NEW HAMPSHIRE VETERAN FOR OBAMA, BILL DUNCAN, COMMENTS ON COST OF WAR FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE

For Immediate Release

September 24, 2008

Contact: Sandra Abrevaya, 603-657-4095

http://NH.barackobama.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE VETERAN FOR OBAMA, BILL DUNCAN, COMMENTS ON COST OF WAR FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE

Manchester, NH--- New Hampshire Veteran for Obama, Bill Duncan, today commented on the cost of war and what is at stake in this election.  His remarks come the morning after Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a major foreign policy address in Cincinnati, Ohio.  In today's speech, Biden laid out the key foreign policy challenges facing our nation, and the reasons Barack Obama offers the leadership and judgment necessary to meet them.  

"The Iraq war has imposed a tremendous cost on all of us.  Our own New Hampshire Guard and Reserve have spent time away from their families and careers to fight," said Bill Duncan, a member of New Hampshire Veterans for Obama.  "Thousands of our country’s service members have died and hundreds of thousands are wounded for life.  And this war – that never should have been authorized -- has imposed on all of us an economic burden that we will be carrying for a generation.  New Hampshire taxpayers have spent $2.7 billion dollars on this war.  It's time to apply those billions to rebuilding our own economy and our standing in the world."

According to the National Priorities Project calculator the War in Iraq has cost New Hampshire taxpayers $2.7 billion.  For the same amount of money, any one of the following could have been provided:

o   708,328 New Hampshire residents with health care for one year

o   14,009 New Hampshire residents with affordable housing units

o   59,764 New Hampshire public safety officers for one year

o   257,922 New Hampshire scholarships for university students for one year

o   46,402 New Hampshire elementary school teachers for one year

Barack Obama has a plan to responsibly bring this war to an end and address unmet domestic needs. As President he will carefully redeploy our troops out of Iraq over 16 months, sending additional reinforcements to Afghanistan to combat the growing terrorist threat. This is in stark contrast to John McCain, who has no plan to end the war and wants to continue spending $10 billion per month in Iraq.  Click here to read more about Senator Obama's plan:  http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/