While the abandoned FBI investigation into Sen. Susan Collins — as reported by ProPublica and carried by this publication on Sept. 23 — is dismaying enough, there is considerably more reason to be dismayed by Collins’ record on military affairs.

Throughout the disastrous 2003-2011 Iraq War, Collins was a staunch supporter of the war, which, according to a Brown University report, will end up costing U.S. taxpayers a total of $2.9 trillion. That’s a staggering $8,457 for every man, woman and child in the country — and that’s about $12 billion right from the pockets of Maine taxpayers. All the while, 14 million American children face food insecurity.

In an emailed Sept. 22 “Tuesday Report,” Collins touted her having secured $42 million in Maine heating assistance. Not bad for one Tuesday Report, but at $42 million per year, Collins would need 285 years of heating assistance to equal the amount Maine taxpayers spent on her disastrous Iraq War — which killed 4,492 Americans and at least 733,000 Iraqis, and destabilized the entire Middle East.

Heating assistance for 285 years. Even Susan Collins would struggle to serve in Congress that long.

Lawrence Reichard
Belfast