US Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), an RPI Board Member, took to the House Floor yesterday to criticize the new Republican budget for its increased spending in Afghanistan. Spending on that “graveyard of empires,” said Walter Jones, is an “absolute waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Rep. Jones cites the absurd situation, recently reported, that US money for places like Afghanistan is — even if inadvertently — winding up in the hands of al-Qaeda and other groups. The CIA, he pointed out, has been sending money to the Afghan leadership that ended up in a slush fund used by the Afghans to pay off al-Qaeda to ransom Afghan officials.
Jones’ objection to the Republican budget is well-placed. As RPI Chairman Ron Paul pointed out yesterday:
The real clinker in the Republican proposal has to do with their blatant plans to robustly increase the military budget for what they claim is troop training, equipment, and compensation. In reality, they are just accommodating the military-industrial complex that they see as necessary for political fundraising. They constantly refer to this type of spending as “defense spending.” A more honest reference to this part of the budget would be to call it “military spending,” because it is the belief of many that the way we spend the money in the military actually reduces the safety and security of this country.
Watch Rep. Walter Jones’ excellent floor speech:
