OPINION: Mayors Come Out Against Afghan War

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

Last week President Obama opened a Pandora’s box by saying we should bring troops home from Afghanistan so we can spend more money on America’s infrastructure.

The issue isn’t whether we want better roads, bridges, and so forth. But it’s wrong to connect that with taking money from the military, or to pretend there’s a peace dividend from a war that’s not yet won.

Picking up their cue from Obama, big-city mayors quickly voted to support a pullout from Afghanistan and Iraq. Then they want the money for themselves. The mayors also voted to ban all nuclear weapons, no doubt thinking that would free up more money for their pet projects.

What a surprise that they didn’t vote to abolish our entire military, and give that money to the cities. Those mayors gave a shameful display of putting pork barrel politics above our national security.

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