News Release

September 8, 2003

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Bush Needs to Refocus on Protecting Americans From Terrorism
Swift resolution of Iraq crisis imperative

WASHINGTON--In a nationally televised speech Sunday night, President Bush said that he would be asking Congress for an additional $87 billion in military and reconstruction spending for next year due to the Iraq occupation. Cato Institute Director of Foreign Policy Studies Christopher Preble made the following comments in regards to the speech: "The true costs of America's military operations in Iraq are becoming clearer by the day. President Bush has announced a new request for $87 billion in addition to $79 billion approved by Congress in April. Many more requests probably lie in the future. Beyond the financial costs are the costs in the lives of American military personnel.

"By remaining in Iraq after Hussein's ouster--with no demonstrable plan for exiting the country--the Bush administration has all but invited foreign fighters to join forces with Iraqis frustrated and humiliated by a foreign occupation. The result is an alliance of terrorists and terrorist sympathizers working to kill Americans and any Iraqis aiding us. These actions thwart the desires of many Iraqis because acts of terrorism postpone progress toward self-government.

"The president declared before the war started that the United States would stay in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a moment longer. This continues to be the White House line. But the Bush administration's rhetoric has not matched its actions. Rather than ask the American taxpayers for still more money to fund an ongoing military occupation with no end in sight, and rather than demand that our military remain astride an ever-expanding American empire, the Bush administration must refocus its efforts on protecting Americans from terrorism. The first step in such a program must be the swift resolution of the Iraq crisis that we created."