As the presidential campaign increasingly focuses on the worsening economy and other domestic issues, the war in Iraq has faded into the background. Just this week, President Bush said we could be there for 10 more years and Senator McCain grandly proclaimed that 100 years of occupation would be perfectly fine with him. There was hardly a ripple of protest from anyone.

I recently learned that nine American soldiers had died in Iraq over just two days when reading page 12 in the New York Times, as I skimmed other news of apparent less importance. There was a time when such tragic news would have been above the fold on the front page. We are rapidly approaching a heartbreaking milestone - the 4,000th American death in Iraq. Still, we seem to have put the debate around the war on the back burner.

Of course, millions of Americans are having trouble finding good jobs, paying for fuel, heating their homes and obtaining quality healthcare for their families. Social Security and Medicare are in real trouble, too. These issues are important and drive our daily quality of life as citizens, but why do people think we are in such economic trouble? According to the National Priorities Project, the war is costing us $275 million every single day! So far, each household has paid $4,100 for the war.

Heathcare
Last year the war cost us $137.6 billion! Listen carefully - we could have provided 39,240,332 people with full healthcare coverage with these funds! Almost every American without health insurance could have received healthcare services last year.

Education
For the cost of the war in 2007, we could have sent more than 22,000,000 students to college. Not only are our young people dying in Iraq, we are handicapping the future of those still here at home.

Employment
Imagine the jobs we could have created by investing in American the $485 billion we have spent so far in Iraq! We could have repaired our crumbling infrastructure, build new “green” transit systems and expanded educational institutions. Our ability to stimulate the economy and to raise the standard of living for poor and middle class Americans has been dramatically impacted by the war in Iraq.

Terrorism
During the presidential campaign, we have heard endlessly how terrorists might exploit our under-secured ports. With the money spent in Iraq last year, we could have hired more than 2,000,000 port container inspectors!

Anyway you cut it, the war in Iraq is devastating this nation's potential for greatness. It is killing some of our best and most promising young people, draining our military preparedness and making economic recovery impossible.

Finally, the war has destroyed our position in the world and thereby our ability to deal with other emerging crises in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. It would be naïve to think that the agents of war and instability in these nations and around the world are not exploiting our weakened position.

Further, this war has marginalized our efforts to fight HIV/ AIDS and other diseases, feed the hungry, end poverty, and mediate civil wars that are killing millions. President Bush and others like to say that America is the guiding light of freedom in the world, but it’s clear that the Iraq War casts a long and sinister shadow.

Some say there was a lower turnout among young in New Hampshire. Maybe it was because we have stopped discussing this war in the campaign. That it is hardly being debated at all anymore in Congress. Or, that the candidates have started following the polls instead of their values and principles.

The war in Iraq has made every aspect of our life worse. Without a doubt, it is the single greatest factor that our economy is in danger.

So, is the economy the biggest issue in the campaign? I say, it’s the war, stupid.