A military veterans group is launching a seven-figure campaign to inform Americans about U.S. involvement overseas and question the fairness within alliances such as NATO, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Concerned Veterans for America Foundation (CVAF) plans to spend more than $1 million in the next year on digital, grassroots, and classroom-style programming, the Examiner reported.
The goal is to promote a broader discussion about the nature of U.S. defense agreements toward advancing U.S. interests.
The campaign, in part, will focus on NATO and its role since the Cold War ended.
One aspect for discussion could be that then-President Donald Trump wanted to ensure that NATO members paid their fair share. However, that pressure has lessened under President Joe Biden.
There's also Ukraine, which has received a commitment of about $113 billion in weapons and economic aid during its war against Russia. The result has been that Pentagon stocks are being depleted.
The campaign also will encourage discussion on diplomatic routes toward peace and security.
"Given the shifting nature of international challenges over the last few years, it's really important that Americans understand with whom we have alliances, why we have alliances right now with those countries, and how we can improve those alliances for Americans' benefit, as well as those countries' benefit," said John Byrnes, senior adviser at CVAF and a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Byrnes told the Examiner that the public needs to assess challenges facing the country as it considers involvement in Europe and Ukraine's war against Russia.
"Concerned Veterans for America Foundation wants to ensure that Americans understand the costs versus the benefits of every dollar we spend supporting Ukraine over the last year," Byrnes said.
Byrnes added that the costs of a war on Europe's borders can't be looked at in a vacuum, citing the potential "trade-offs between continuing to support Ukraine with finances and material and balancing rising Chinese power in the Indo-Pacific region."
"We want Americans to be asking the question of, How is this in our best interest and is there a better alternative, rather than just reflexively saying, Well this alliance must be good because it's always worked, and therefore just keep spending money," Byrnes said.
Congress last month passed a new government funding bill that sends $47 billion to Ukraine, and the Biden administration this month announced a military aid package to Ukraine worth a total of $3.75 billion.
The administration also has provided long-term military financing to Ukraine's neighbors, including NATO countries "potentially at risk of future Russian aggression."
CVAF is funded by Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-aligned group.
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