Say It Ain't So Already

Question for Conservatives: Who Is Going to Pay For a War On Iran?

February 13, 2012 at 2:03 PM Leave a comment

Steve Clemons asks a good (and obvious) question:

While GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is doing all he can in this election cycle to gin up a debate about U.S. foreign policy and a measure of the costs and benefits involved, the debate about Iran, China, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel’s security has been taking place in a gravityless environment.

Mitt Romney’s opening foreign-policy opus at the Citadel criticized President Obama for defense cuts and promised to boost America’s defense commitments abroad, to boost military spending on hardware and ships in the Pacific–to do everything we have been doing but more.

Where are the dollars going to come from?

I am one who thinks that war with Iran is far off and in the near term unlikely–unless Israel makes a tremendous mistake by triggering and forcing a geostrategic move by the United States, a choice that could very well ultimately dismantle the close U.S.-Israel relationship (another alternative: Forces inside Iran that would benefit from a war cause an escalation that produces a potential nightmare in the Persian Gulf and region).

That said, fewer and fewer people agree with me–and various of the GOP presidential candidates seem to be competing with each other to tell U.S. citizens how quickly they would deploy American military and intelligence assets to undermine Iran’s supreme leader and his government.

[...]

Wars cost lots and lots of money– and if a substantial chunk of the GOP crowd wants these wars and feels that it is in our national interest to have them, then by all means they should start lining up some of the wealthiest in the country who are helping to agitate for these conflicts to pay more in taxes for them.

Memo to the “liberal media:”  The next time you’re in front of Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or any of the other conservatives who are advocating for aggression against Iran, ask them how they plan on paying for it.  Hello!

Entry filed under: Our Tax Dollars, Wars. Tags: gop presidential candidates.