Troop withdrawal will reduce Republicans’ Stimulus Package: Defense Spending


     A few days ago, President Obama announced that he is withdrawing all the troops from Iraq. It was an announcement that caught the Republicans off-guard.  They, like most Americans, thought that a sizable number of American soldiers were going to stay in Iraq for years to come. The real story, however, is the impact this withdrawal is going to have on the republican states, whose stimulus package is defense spending. Understand. Troop reduction in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other area of the world literally means troop reduction at military bases, camps and forts in Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida, Colorado . . .   It means that a huge number of military personnel and their families will no longer be in these states, spending money on homes, cars, food, clothing, insurance, etc.  It also means that the huge civilian workforces on these military installations will be drastically reduced because there will be less military personnel in need of service.  Most importantly, however, troop withdrawal means a significant reduction in defense contracts and requisitions for weapons, ammunitions, equipment, goods and services; these are expenses, which accounts for the lion share of the cost of fighting wars. They’re also among the most important limbs of the republican states’ economies: They are their hidden stimulus packages.
     Small wonder, then, that republicans are voicing strong opposition to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Quite frankly, with the exception of Senator John McCain and a couple others, I doubt very seriously the patriotism of the current group of republicans whose policies seem to be aimed at assisting the richest Americans, while destroying the middle class and the poor. For unlike the republicans of the Goldwater, Dole, Reagan and Bush Sr. era, who worshipped the middle class and blue collar workers; the republicans of the McConnell, Graham, Cantor, Boehner, and Ryan era worship the wealthy and corporate exploiters. Shame on them for abondoning the middle class and the principles of Abraham Lincoln's party. 
By
James A. Porter        

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