What would $123,034,145,032 do? (cost of Iraq war)

[G_j]

www.costofwar.com

The War in Iraq Cost the United States

$123,034,145,032 (present total)


(the following numbers adjusted in May '04)

PRE-SCHOOL- Instead, we could have paid for
17,394,925
children to attend a year of Head Start.

KIDS' HEALTH- Instead, we could have insured
52,736,567
children for one year.

PUBLIC EDUCATION- Instead, we could have hired
2,343,517
additional public school teachers for one year.

COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS- Instead, we could have provided
3,120,729
students four-year scholarships at public universities .

PUBLIC HOUSING- Instead, we could have built
1,757,640
additional housing units .

WORLD HUNGER- Instead, we could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for
5
years.

AIDS EPIDEMIC- Instead, we could have fully funded world-wide AIDS programs for
12
years.

WORLD IMMUNIZATION- Instead, we could have ensured that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for
41
years.

-See the cost in your community: www.costofwar.com




"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953

[Guaranteed]

1. For the Republicans, we could have given every taxpayer

a $500-1000 tax cut.

[Mr_Spock]

2. Dubya coulda bought a lot of COKE!!

I bet he's bummed about that.

[VolcanoJen]

3. And, what could 1,013 lives have accomplished?

What of their hopes, dreams, promises? 893 American lives among them; wasted, gone, perished.

What of the wounded? At least 5,394 Americans forever scarred by their experiences. Countless more with less visible scars, I'm sure, but scarred, nonetheless.

What about the hopes, dreams and promises of the 11,000+ Iraqis who have lost their lives in sacrifice to this war? How many of them have been wounded, scarred, changed? How much hope has been lost?

Does anyone feel safer? Happier? Comforted? Warm? At ease with ones conscience?

These are the questions that every American and citizen member of the Coalition of the Willing should be asking themselves. These are the questions which beget questions which beget more questions. These are the questions which lingered unanswered before the war, and linger unanswered, and sadly, unasked, today.

These are the questions which should be offered up in response to the most popular question of the day: "Would you be happier if Saddam Hussein was still in power?"

Are there any answers?

[G_j]

4. good post

no amount of money can bring back a single life.

The Iraqi people have been traumatized for years, now for all the lives lost and money spent the trauma has spiraled into a vortex of deepening violence and grief. shame

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. And, many of the programs listed would have really fought "terror".

It is to weep.

[proud patriot]

6. A border guard every 200 yards of our thousands of miles of border

I use this one with wingers. It really pisses them off :evilgrin:

[Sparky McGruff]

7. We could make 123 crooked CEO's billionaires!

Then they could fire all their workers, move their corporate offices to Bermuda, open factories in China (using slave labor), and give big checks to the Repubican party. Who can argue with that? We need more crooked CEOs!