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Afghanistan Aid
by Keith Johnson
January 30, 2002

Dear Editor,

It was heartening to read that our government is pledging almost $300 million to aid in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. This is a large number but it hardly compares with the amount of money that we are spending to make war. The war in Afghanistan costs US taxpayers $1 to $2 billion per month, and since Sept. 11 the defense budget has been increased by $50 billion to fund weapons programs (like the F22 fighter and the Crusader artillery system) that the Pentagon doesn't want because they are outmoded. This looks to me like war profiteering pure and simple. I'm opposed to terrorism, but I pay taxes too!

p.s. the spending figures come from an article in The Nation (Jan 28, 2002) "Making Money on Terror" by William D. Hartung, a senior research fellow at the World Policy Institute at the New School University.

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