America's students will learn our priorities are elsewhere Final Edition

• Published in: Milwaukee journal sentinel
• Main Author: Jackson, Derrick
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Milwaukee, Wis Journal Sentinel Inc 08.09.2003
• ISSN: 1082-8850

In Winthrop, Mass., the school district has shut its libraries. In Massachusetts and across the nation, school bus services have been slashed. Boston closed six schools and eliminated 400 teaching positions. In wealthier districts, parents are raising thousands of dollars for the activities that provide culture and the comfort of knowing where their kids are. As for low-income districts, the larvae are left to swim among the predators of idle time, crime, cable and copulation. The civilian coordinator of the occupation, L. Paul Bremer, says Iraq will need as much as an additional $100 billion from the international community to rebuild its infrastructure. Many analysts say the rebuilding will take much more, from $100 billion to $600 billion. Bremer told The Washington Post: "We have a noble task before us. It's difficult, it's costly, but it's absolutely achievable." If the cost of rebuilding Iraq surpasses $411 billion, that will exceed spending for all the nation's public school students in 2001. All for a war that began with lies -- contrary to White House claims, no weapons of mass destruction have been discovered -- and continues with bombings and sniper attacks. The commitment to rebuild Iraq is so serious that the White House is boosting Bechtel's contract by $350 million.