The U.S. Defends the World for Free

December 27, 2002

President George W. Bush

221 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

United States of America

 

Subject: World Defense’s Shared Costs

President Bush,

I was listening to NPR on the way home August 26, 2002 and they said that the US would give 0.1% of our GDP to poor countries by 2005. This compares with Europe’s planned 0.4% of their GDP.[i] Previously, when I would hear this, I would wonder why we were so stingy compared to other nations.

But I don’t think this so much now. We spend 3.2% of our GDP on defense.[ii] The nearest any of our rich allies comes to that is France with 2.7% followed by Britain at 2.3%. Defense spending falls off a deep cliff with fourth place Australia at 2%, Italy 1.6% then Germany at 1.38%. Germany would have to cough up a lot of money to catch up with the United States.

Perhaps the US should still be doing more to help the poor countries. But we are far ahead of our allies in helping them than aid statistics would indicate. Poverty can only be destroyed when the world is safe. And defense spending is how to make it safe and secure. When the former Yugoslavia was falling apart in Europe’s backyard, who came to help without losing a life on the field of combat? We did, of course. Europe couldn’t do it on their own. Sure, we were reimbursed, but that’s too little too late. These countries need to upgrade their defense infrastructure to take the heat off ours.

The Institutes of Medicine estimates that over 18,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health care coverage[iii]. Well, if we cut our defense spend by 57%, to Germany’s level, we could probably afford to provide health care to the poor. I don’t see how we can now, though.

Many countries in the UK typically have citizens getting six weeks of vacation per year and working 35 hours per week. These factors contribute to their GDP per capita rates of only 70% of ours.[iv] Not only are other nations paying much less per GPD than us, their GDP’s are seriously deflated to pay for they vacations, shortened weeks and huge welfare benefits.[v] Since defense is global in its benefits, the taxes we collect in this country for defense, save the citizens in other countries from paying for their own defense and now they can afford extended vacations and to send their children to the doctor when they get sick. We’re literally working ourselves into the graves so other countries can enjoy our massive defense umbrella. If Germany weren’t the welfare state that they are compared to us and had an equivalent GDP per capita, they would have to spend over twice as much on defense to keep up with us.[vi]

Our goal should be to shed some of this defense burden onto our allies. There is no question that the world needs stable, democratic and benevolent countries like the US to foster democracy and freedom worldwide. But the entire burden shouldn’t be on us. We not only have the financial burden, but every time some nut like Al Qaida wants to make a statement, where do you think they will make it? I’ll tell you one place it won't be… Germany. Sure, they might target a US military base in Germany, but they won't blow up the Reichstag. And if Saddam ends up building a bomb capable of killing 100,000 innocents; which country do you think holds the target city for a field trial?

Our allies might have a hard time empathizing just as we had a hard time taking Osama seriously when he blew up our embassies and the Cole. But we have to reason with them. They are reasonable, you know.

If a second war in Iraq would end up costing the same as the first, the total would come to 81 billion dollars. Well, we didn’t drive all the way into Baghdad then, so this war will easily cost much more. This cost is not ours. We’ve already more than matched our allies’ contributions to the world. We need to steal this debate from them. If the rich nations are not meeting their moral requirements to the world’s poor, the worst offenders are countries like Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy and Australia, NOT the United States.

Please take this debate to the world. If we can make a case for going into Iraq, we can also make a case for others to bear those costs. And we shouldn’t stop there. We should demand, through forums like NATO and the UN that other countries start to keep up with the security that they are legally obligated through treaties to support.

Thanks for your time. I look forward to seeing you on the news about this subject.

Sincerely,