"What is the cost of this war in dollars to our budget? What is the cost to our economy?" said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who opposed President Bush's military action against Iraq.
Interesting how antiwar activists and politicians show concern over "excessive expenditures" -- yet only when it comes to projects they oppose. Actor/comedian Robin Williams, for example, said, "America is broke, basically, but Bush wants to wage a war that costs pretty much a billion dollars a month." James Cromwell, antiwar activist/actor said, "Billions of dollars for a war in Iraq to no purpose, and what to protect American citizens? Duct tape." Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said, "The costs are going to be long-term a lot more than the package presented to us to date."
What about Clinton-led incursions in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina? Intervention in the Balkans during the '90s cost the United States about $15 billion. According to the non-partisan Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping, currently the United Nations authorizes a civilian police force of 2,057, with five military liaison officers still patrolling and maintaining the peace. The annual cost comes to almost $79 million. Did the left scream about the "cost" of these humanitarian, rather than national security-led, interventions?
In my current book, Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies, and the Special Interests That Divide America (available at http://www.larryelder.com), I describe a 10-hour post-George W. Bush election/anti-Republican rally called "Wake Up Democrats! Take Back the Country." Speakers included many of the usual suspects: actor Warren Beatty; former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi; then House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.; Reverend Jesse Jackson; Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future; Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles; former Green Party California senatorial candidate Medea Benjamin; adviser to California Governor Gray Davis (Democrat) S. David Freeman; Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; Rep. Henry Waxman D-West Los Angeles.
Congressman Waxman showed the typical indifference toward costs when he said, "We belong to a community where we want to take care of everyone. . . . We must guarantee everyone access to health care, universal coverage." Actor Warren Beatty said that campaign finance reform is "the transcendent issue of American democracy in our time."