As President Bush proposes to send an additional 20,000 troops to fight in Iraq, it is worth noting what the war is currently costing New Hampshire taxpayers.

Via various federal taxes, New Hampshire citizens and businesses will pay approximately $1.5 billion for Iraq operations during this fiscal year.

For the same amount of money, New Hampshire could provide:

• 349,783 people with health care or
• 27,624 elementary school teachers or
• 188,936 children with slots in Head Start or
• 381,397 children with health care or
• 8,071 affordable housing units or
• 116 new elementary schools or
• 158,065 scholarships for university students or
• 27,264 music and arts teachers or
• 35,196 public safety officers or
• 2,156,510 homes with renewable electricity.

“It’s amazing what we could accomplish in America if the President, Congress and the Pentagon stopped throwing money at dead-end military exercises like Iraq and obsolete Cold War weapons systems,” PrioritiesNH director Steve Varnum said today.

PrioritiesNH is working to change America's budget priorities to reflect a national commitment to education, healthcare, energy independence, job training and deficit reduction -- at no additional taxpayer expense -- by shifting funding from obsolete Cold War and nuclear weapons. A panel of military experts says the Pentagon wastes $60 billion each year on obsolete Cold War weapons and excessive nuclear weapons. The Common Sense Budget Act would redistribute that $60 billion to domestic and international human needs.

Tradeoff facts from National Priorities Project: http://database.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoff

Facts on $60 billion Pentagon waste: http://www.prioritiesnh.org/documents/Korb_revised_06.pdf