Winter 2004
From Pre-emptive War through Budget Cuts, Our Future Imperiled
by Robert M. Gould, MD
With less than a year since the initiation of the war on
Iraq, the revelations of U.S. arms inspector David Kay have
underscored what most PSR members already knew: that the
war had nothing to do with combating Al Qaeda or an imminent
threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The combination
of UN-directed inspections and sanctions focused on weapons
programs provided the most effective curb to Iraq WMD proliferation.
In contrast, the longstanding U.S. alliance with Pakistan,
most recently strengthened in the “war on terrorism,”
has permitted horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons
technology to nations such as Libya, North Korea and Iran.
The lesson should be clear: we need significantly strengthened
and verifiable global treaties and programs to end the global
arms race, not an endless cycle of “preemptive”
wars employing the latest in genocidal technology.
The U.S. rush to war has resulted in thousands of Iraqi
deaths, and a protracted conflict that has caused over 500
deaths and thousands of casualties among American troops.
The enormous costs of reconstruction, pocketed by Administration-friendly
firms such as Halliburton (already implicated in swindling
the government) are to be borne by Americans facing devastating
budget cuts at home. Ultimately, the rest of the world will
suffer as it becomes more starved for the necessary resources
to deal with imminent crises needing creative and collective
solutions.
In the wake of a massive U.S. fiscal deficit largely resulting
from last year’s enormous tax cuts, the proposed Bush
2005 budget calls for an increase of more than 7% to this
year’s already bloated defense budget, officially
stated as just over $400 billion. But in a sleight-of-hand
typical for this Administration, the budget request fails
to include projected additional spending of up to $50 billion
for Iraq and Afghanistan (and these projections could increase).
In addition, as was the case for the current defense budget,
outlays for militarized programs ranging from missile “defense”
through “Homeland Security” bring the real military
costs much higher. For example, a recent careful analysis
of the 2004 defense budget published in the San Francisco
Chronicle revealed that true military expenditures range
up to $754 billion, which is approximately 88 percent greater
than Defense Department outlays alone.1
To pay for this largesse, non-military, “discretionary”
spending, which provides for real needs and environmental
protection for ordinary people, is slated to be cut drastically
(or, at best, held beneath the rise in inflation). The budget
calls for eliminating or reducing more than a dozen education
programs: cutting $34 million spent to help pay for secondary
school counselors; $30 million for a program in schools
to combat alcohol abuse; and $38 million for projects to
provide employment services to people with disabilities.
While cutting voucher programs aimed at keeping low-income
families from becoming homeless, the budget also calls for
a 7 percent reduction in spending for the Environmental
Protection Agency and slashing funds for clean water projects
by approximately $500 million. The proposal was appropriately
characterized by Senator Edward M. Kennedy as the “most
anti-family, anti-worker, anti-health care, anti-education
budget in modern times.”
At the international level, projected cuts in previously
promised AIDS funding and the continued lack of adequate
resources to develop renewable and sustainable forms of
energy to alleviate the impending environmental crises posed
by global climate change, threaten the health of the entire
world community. We clearly cannot afford a 21st Century
of unbridled militarism powered by fissile and fossil fuels.
Accordingly, we at SF Bay Area PSR will be redoubling our
efforts to promote our vision of SMART Security as a progressive
alternative to current U.S. policies. SMART (Sensible Multilateral
American Response to Terrorism) addresses the upstream causes
of terrorism while trying to halt the downward slide to
mutual nuclear annihilation. In this critical year ahead,
it is imperative that we work vigorously for a fundamental
change in our direction, for the sake of all that inhabit
our planet.
References
1 Robert Higgs, “Billions
More for Defense” — and We May Not Even Know
It/ Good Guess: Double the Pentagon budget. San Francisco
Chronicle. January 18, 2004.
Also from this Issue
California Lists DEHP as a Reproductive
Toxicant
