Five Years of Waste

Five years ago this month, the United States invaded Iraq. The war has killed over 4,000 Americans (including contractors), injured tens of thousands more, killed hundreds of thousands (over 1 million by some counts) Iraqis, cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion (at least) and ruined America's reputation abroad, making it more dangerous for Americans to travel and more difficult to do business overseas. It has also, as wars inevitably do, eroded our civil liberties. War is the health of the state.

John McCain and Hillary Clinton supported this war. Barack Obama did not. This alone should be enough to convince any libertarian to support Obama. But Obama's opposition to the war goes beyond his speeches against it. Obama has promised that if he is elected he will immediately begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. He has promised not to build permanent bases in Iraq. And, most importantly, he is far less likely than his fellow candidates to get us into a new war.