End war, Richardson says, citing cost

On Wednesday, September 19,2007, democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson called for the U.S. to end the war in Iraq. He said that instead of spending billions of dollars on the violent war, we should spend the resource on health care and other needs.

He compared the amount spent in two week in the war to how much we spend a year in cancer research. Richardson explained that the comparison as misguided priorities. "We are being bled dry by an invasion that is costing the us $500 billion so far," Richardson stressed. He talked about how the spending of this money, in Iraq, is detracting from American security. He explained that the money could be being used to counter act terrorism, with energy independence, and nuclear proliferation.

He told the AP reporters, that all troops should be removed from Iraq because they are only making the matter worse. He said that there is a tribal and ethnic hatred in that country and American troops are contributing to it.

Richardson criticized his leading rival's, in the presidential campaign, plans on withdrawing all troops except for residual forces. he said he would leave only the Marines that guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, in the Middle East. He did not think pulling all U.S. forces out so quickly would be a good idea. Richardson expressed that he would also keep a small troop of mostly special forces in Kuwait and a few more troops in Afghanistan. But the war would be over.

The candidate told of his frustration with his rivals, when he said he could never get a straight answer from them when he asked, on several occasions, how many troops they would leave in Iraq and for how long.

The war was the main topic in Richardson's interview, but he expressed his thoughts on other issues as well.


I believe that Candidate Richardson has a good plan for ending the war in Iraq. The war has been going on for years and in my opinion not much seems to have changed. The United States should be spending more on health care and other needs instead of wasting the money in the Middle East. The article was good and worth reading to find out that someone has a good plan on a safe and helpful end to the war.

Link To The Article
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5149865.html