I strongly disagree with two letters to the editor, (CR, Oct. 6), “Afghanistan realities” by Christopher Costello and “United States Bashing” by Richard Tedesco.
Our struggle in Afghanistan must come to an end. We have fought long enough and if the Afghans can’t control their drug trade, corrupt government and embattled tribal warfare, why should we Americans, who are struggling with an horrendous debt problem and 9 percent unemployment, save another country with its age-old problems. Seventy percent of the American public wants us out of Afghanistan by the end of 2012.Tedesco stated that somehow, if we criticize United States’ huge military industrial complex, that is anti-American. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our military complex is larger than that of all the industrial nations in the world combined.
Our total foreign aid totals less than 2 percent of our gross national budget. Foreign aid administered by the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development represents about 1 percent of the U.S. budget.