In 2008 President Bush added $4 trillion to our national debt to bring it to nearly record highs of over $9 trillion. Now it is over $12 trillion and is continuing to rise. Over the last 8 years, the number has done nothing but rise and it is nearly all due to our decision to go to war. Every American knows that we are at war and have been ever since 9/11, but people were so caught up in the idea of getting back and Iraq and Afghanistan that they didn't realize just how much this war would cost. People still believe that the cause is good but now the majority of people believe that we have done nothing but waste money. We did put away some terrible people and have most likely brought the terror threat way down but for the most part it was just money being wasted. In the past, Congress has used its power to put more control on the amount of money being spent for a war. All war bills or requests cannot take effect until Congress has approved them and if spending is getting out of hand from what has already been approved, Congress can intervene and put a stop to it. This whole idea is called "power of the purse". This has been the case before during the Vietnam War when Congress put a cap on the amount of troops and also in 1982 when they wouldn't allow President Reagan to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. With Congress having the ability to do this, people are starting to wonder why they are not doing it now. This war has not done much for our country other than put us deeper in the hole. If Congress is thinking the same way as the people are, they should step in and put a stop to all this unneeded spending.
I think Congress needs to step in and stop our countries spending overseas. I believe we have done our job over there, especially in Iraq, and it is time to make some changes. I think that the real problem is in Afghanistan now and that we should be more focused on that country. We are only wasting our money and our troops' lives in Iraq. I think we should send most of the troops from Iraq into Afghanistan and the ones that stay behind should only be there to help out the rebuilding of the country and its infrastructure. By doing this we are balancing our spending out way more and will no longer need to increase the amount of money being used over there. Al Qaida is more of a problem than anything right now so it should be focused on. About a year ago, President Obama had the same idea. He backed the pentagons plan of sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. He believes that not enough has been done in Afghanistan and says "we've got to ramp up our development approach." This is the same way I think things should go because it just a big waste over in Iraq.
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