After nearly a decade, the United States ended the war in Iraq as troops returned home just in time for the holidays of 2011. As troops begin to come home from Afghanistan, the war efforts in the Middle East are coming to a close and the majority of Americans couldn't be happier. While many Americans are happy to have our troops home, not everyone is and there are those who can't wait to go back to war.
Watching the Republican debates it's obvious that the candidates have a quick trigger finger when it comes to going back to war. While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming to a close, they seem to have lined up Iran as their next target. On a recent interview with Dick Gregory on Meet the Press, Republican candidate Rick Santorum said he would be quick to attack Iran.
Rick Santorum: “I would be saying to the Iranians, you either open those facilities, begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors or we will degrade those facilities though air strikes…and make it very public that we are doing that.”
Republicans are the ones who pride themselves on being the party of "fiscal responsibility," but they seem to put those thoughts on hold when they get a chance to go to war. One of President Bush's many problems was that he went to war while giving away tax cuts to the wealthy. War is expensive and needs to be paid for and going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan while not having the revenue to pay for it was one of the leading causes of the financial crisis in 2008.
When George W. Bush came into office in 2001, he was handed a surplus by former President Clinton. Following the party line, President Bush handed out tax cuts like they were candy and the surplus that was given to him was disappearing. The major problem with the tax cuts were that they primarily benefited the wealthy. The middle and lower class didn't feel much relief outside a check sent to them for a few hundred dollars. As the surplus faded away, Bush went to war with two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan. With no money to pay for the wars, the country fell deeper into debt. Fast forward to today and we see what could be a repeat of the mistake made nearly a decade ago. If Rick Santorum or some of the other Republican candidates are elected as the next president, a repeat of the disaster could happen again and the country can't afford that.
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