U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, left, joins members of Ocean State Action at a news conference at the State House yesterday. With Whitehouse is state Sen. Joshua Miller, center, and state Rep. Arthur Handy.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

PROVIDENCE — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and a coalition of community organizations joined together yesterday to criticize President Bush for his “misplaced” war priorities, which they said are financially draining crucial domestic programs.

Ocean State Action used a State House news conference to release a report, prepared by the USAction Education Fund, showing that the war had so far cost U.S. taxpayers $456 billion, and $10 billion more every month.

The coalition said that the state’s share of the war costs, based on the amount of federal income tax collected in Rhode Island, surpassed $1.8 billion — enough money to have paid for health care for almost 800,000 uninsured children.

The report, filled with cost comparisons of what the war money could be used for, also says that the cost of restoring federal education aid in Rhode Island for kindergarten through grade 12 — about $18.8 million — equates to about 82 minutes of Iraq war spending.

The war has “drained vital domestic programs of the needed investments that are required to support our young people, our elderly, our disabled and our hard-working Rhode Islanders,” said Karen Malcolm, executive director of Ocean State Action, a coalition of community, labor and environmental groups.

While President Bush tries to “define down success in Iraq” by saying the military surge is “showing some positive results,” said Whitehouse, “the real question for our country is: Is this misguided war the best way to spend these resources?”

Ten billion dollars a month “is an enormous amount that could be spent on education, that could be spent on health care,” said Whitehouse. “My personal view is, if we spent this money on education, 20 years from now, we would be a stronger America” rather than “pouring [it] into the marshes and sands of Iraq.”

Malcolm said it was important that the study be released yesterday as Congress prepares to reconvene and hopefully, she said, “reverse these upside-down policies.”

“It’s unbelievable President Bush has threatened to veto any spending bill that includes more spending for domestic programs,” such as children’s health, education and childcare — “programs that we here in Rhode Island prioritize as needed for a healthy and vital community.”

Not only is the war spending hurting domestic programs, said Whitehouse, but “many expenditures are counterproductive because they create enormous distaste and antipathy for America throughout the Arab world and throughout a good part of the rest of the world as well. And we’re going to spend a good part of a decade digging out of a hole that the Iraq war has dug for us.”

Next week, Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, is scheduled to testify before Congress on the war’s status. Whitehouse said he anticipates Petraeus “trying to be truthful” with his opinion, but also accepting of the Bush administration’s effort “to redefine the question, so it will be all about whether the surge has shown some signs of success.”

“It would be a disgrace if it didn’t show some signs of success. When you put 160,000 American soldiers [on the ground] and $10 billion a month, you better show some signs of success.”

But, Whitehouse said: “It’s the wrong question. And that’s why it’s important that we’re here asking, overall, does it make sense for us to continue in Iraq?”

tmooney@projo.com