U.S. cannot afford huge Pentagon budgets

The House of Representatives approved HR 5856 on July 19, appropriating $606 billion for the Pentagon. This includes $88 billion for our 11-year war in Afghanistan but does not include other war-related expenses, such as VA services for 400,000 post-traumatic syndrome-afflicted veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The country with the next-largest military budget, China, recently announced a military budget of $106 billion, though the Pentagon says it's really $160 billion. Well, let's take the Pentagon's word for it. It must be right because it's the only federal agency that's never been audited.

So, every man, woman and child's share of the military budget will be $1,931 per year and that's too much!

My proposal is let's have a military budget that's triple the size of China's - three times $160 billion, or $480 billion. We would save $126 billion and still be spending $1,530 per capita on military vs. $119 per capita in China. Our military spending is not buying us national security and it has crossed into immorality. Setting those two concerns aside, we cannot afford to throw money down the drain like this anymore. Tell Sens. Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley to vote no when the Pentagon spending bill comes to the Senate.

Ed Flaherty

Iowa City