The US-Israeli war on Iran is a Vermont state issue. Every dollar spent on bombs, missiles, and the machines that deliver them is a dollar taken away from healthcare, education, highways, public transit, food subsidies, and many more institutions and programs residents of Vermont and every other US state use.

This is true even during the current period, in which President Donald Trump and the US right-wing do almost everything they can to end those programs by cutting federal funding. Furthermore, the rising price of gasoline and other fossil fuels that everyone uses, no matter how far off the grid they might live, affects everybody’s ability to live. More money spent on fuel means less money spent on other items like food and clothing. Those who struggle to pay rent will find that struggle even greater should the price of these fuels continue to rise and not go down in any substantial way. I place my commentary in Vermont because that’s where I live. However, it is applicable to every state in the US.

This war was begun for reasons privy only to certain individuals in the US and Israeli governments. Most readers know that there was an agreement with Iran to prevent that nation’s nuclear power program from building nuclear weapons; that agreement was torn up by the first Donald Trump administration. Although the more recent talks were moving along and—according to most reports—going Washington’s way, the militaries of Israel and the United States launched a bloody and violent attack on Tehran, killing its political and spiritual leader. Israel’s involvement is part of its stated desire to annex much of the region known as West Asia or the Mideast into its expanding borders, creating a considerably larger Israel. Given that Israel is at best an ally of Washington and at worst a colony, a larger Israel would certainly benefit the designs Washington has (and has had) for the region.

Of course, just wishing for a giant Israeli garrison state is not the same as making one. That is where war and genocide come in. That is why Washington supports Israel’s ongoing attempts to destroy the idea of Palestine; it is also why Washington is intent on establishing military relations with the monarchies in West Asia. Once again, these endeavors cost a lot of public money and that money comes from taxes paid by US residents. So, when the Israeli-US alliance goes to war, against the Palestinian people, the Lebanese, or the nation of Iran, the amount of money taken from the US public’s money and transferred to the war industry and the........

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