Our leaders need to not abandon Iraq, but support its growth and the growth of other undeveloped countries by funding the UN Millennium Development Goals. According to the Borgen Project, just 0.16 of out federal budget is spent on poverty reduction while $340 billion has been spent on the war.

Continuing with this war as it is being fought now would be foolish. The irony is, how do we bring peace to a country that we are declaring war on? As seen by the peaceful protest, American presence is not wanted; they want to rule their country on their own. The US needs to join together with the rest of the world leaders in figuring out a multilateral and economically sound way of ending terrorism and Mid-East tensions. One of the most effective ways is to end global poverty. We need to redirect our funds to programs that will work to combat the conditions that foster extremism.

by euni84 on 04/09/2007 07:46:23 PM EST