Kucinich: Afghan War, Threat to US National Security

Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich has severely reprimanded US President Barack Obama for sending additional troops to Afghanistan.

Kucinich said in a statement on Thursday that extending the Afghan war would destabilize the United States at home.

"We are deeply in debt. Our GDP is down. Our manufacturing is down. Our savings are down. The value of the dollar is down. Our trade deficit is up. Business failures are up. Bankruptcies are up," his statement read.

The US president earlier on Tuesday announced plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in his new war strategy.

"The war is a threat to our national security. We'll spend over $100 billion next year to bomb a nation of poor people while we reenergize the Taliban, destabilize Pakistan, deplete our army and put more of our soldiers' lives on the line," the Ohio congressman said.

"Meanwhile, back here in the USA, 15 million people are out of work. People are losing their jobs, their health care, their savings, their investments, and their retirement security. $13 trillion in bailouts for Wall Street, trillions for war; when are we going to start taking care of things here at home?"

The new US troop surge would put more than 100,000 American forces in Afghanistan at an annual cost of about $75 billion.

The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost 768.8 billion dollars and by the end of this fiscal year (October 2010) the price tag will approach one trillion.

Aside from the huge cost, the controversial wars have inflicted a high human death toll mostly on the civilian population of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The people of Afghanistan don't want to be saved by us," Kucinich said on the House floor Wednesday.

"They want to be saved from us. Our presence and our Predator drones kill countless innocents, creating more US enemies and destabilizing Pakistan," he added.

Congressman Kucinich has long been a critic of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, repeatedly calling for withdrawal of troops.