Barletta on the issues

From the DCCC:


Bush-Republican Lou Barletta: Unprepared and Clueless about Cost of Iraq War



Republican Lou Barletta is running for Congress and doesn't even know the cost of the war in Iraq .

"At a time when General David Patraeus is on Capitol Hill and Congress is re-evaluating the toll of the Iraq War in terms of American lives lost and its huge drain on the federal budget, Lou Barletta is totally ignorant about how much the war costs,” said Carrie James of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

When asked on a recent Northeast Pennsylvania radio talk show (Sue Henry Show, WILK, 3/17/08) what the Iraq war was costing hardworking Americans, Barletta stammered and twisted and couldn't give an answer. The caller who asked the question actually had to provide the details.

"This only proves the point that Barletta is a one-trick pony candidate that grandstands and nothing more. The working people of Northeast Pennsylvania can't afford someone like Barletta who's embarrassingly unprepared when it comes to Iraq and the major issues."

This war has cost 4,000 brave Americans their lives, nearly 30,00 have been injured, it has pushed our military to a breaking point, and diverted tax dollars that should be used to help working people and seniors fight skyrocketing gasoline, grocery, utility, and healthcare costs. All this and Lou Barletta is clueless about a war that some independent analysts state could cost more than $1 TRILLION."

“ Barletta should know better than to plead ignorance about a war that Americans are fighting and that's busting the federal budget at a time when a bad economy is hurting working people as never before. Barletta should do his homework and learn about one of the most important issues facing Congress. Anything less dishonors the brave men and women serving in Iraq ,” said James.

BACKGROUND:

The Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion to date. [ New York Times, 3/19/08]

Independent analyses conducted by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz indicate that the cost of the Iraq war could exceed $1 TRILLION. [ Washington Post, 3/9/08]

Since the start of the war in Iraq , 4,011 American military men and women have been killed. [Department of Defense, 4/3/08]

An estimated 29,395 service members have been wounded in Iraq and, as of March 1, more than 31,300 have been treated for non-combat injuries and illness. [Department of Defense, 3/18/08; AP, 3/8/08]

Nearly 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since September 2001 – more than 592,000 have been deployed more than once. [Department of Defense, 1/31/08]