Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers
Thursday, Dec 17th, 2009
Lawmakers in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by using a method that’s a throwback to prior U.S. conflicts: war bonds.
Saying that it would “promote national shared sacrifice and responsibility,” Rep. Kendrick Meek , D- Fla. , introduced a bill Wednesday in the House of Representatives that would authorize the treasury secretary to issue and sell war bonds to Americans to fund the wars. Sen. Ben Nelson , D- Neb. , filed companion legislation in the Senate earlier this week.
“At a time of tremendous sacrifice for our military families, we need to promote shared sacrifice and shoulder collective responsibility as a nation as we fight two wars halfway across the globe,” Meek said, calling war bonds a “cost-effective way” to reduce dependence on foreign creditors.
[efoods]He also said the bonds would “create an outlet for Americans to express their patriotism and support for our service members as well as the security mission for which they are deployed.”
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COMMENT: Whatever one makes of WWII in hindsight, the War Bonds-era fit in with a time of high morale where people at least believed they were fighting for the right reasons. How cynical and ill fitting is the War Bonds idea, today, against the backdrop of known-lies that provoked the Iraq & Afghanistan ‘wars’, the endorsement of torture, lies about ending the wars, the secret expansion into Pakistan and strategies for ‘surges’ and etc. How do those images fit? Have a look. It’s as starkly false as the "War is Peace" mantra Obama now pushes. How could we morally fund war bonds for wars with no clear or legitimate purpose?
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