The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Blood Money

Oct 20, 2003

Both the House and the Senate passed the Bush administration’s request for 87 billion more dollars to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This money is added to the 79 billion dollars appropriated by Congress earlier this year for these wars.

It comes to 166 billion appropriated this year, about half a billion dollars a day–which could have been used to deal with problems existing here in the U.S. Instead this money will go in big chunks to Bush and Cheney’s cronies in big corporations–who get big military contracts. It’s going to kill people in Iraq and Afghanistan, destroying their countries in the process.

To get an idea of who profits from this, look at the details from what two Congressmen asked the White House Office of Management and Budget. Gasoline can be purchased in the region for about 71¢ per gallon and brought into Iraq for another 25¢. And these costs are already exaggerated by many factors like exchange rates.

So what is Halliburton charging the U.S. government? $1.62 and up per gallon, or about TWICE the cost estimate.

War is hell–for everyone except the Pentagon’s contractors making fat profits from blood.