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Edited on Sat Dec-17-05 03:34 PM by RJnAbbysNana
$210 Billion Down the Holeby Joe Schembrie
LewRockwell.com
December 17, 2005{/b]
According to the latest estimates, the United States government has spent over two hundred and ten billion dollars on the war in Iraq. How do we put that in perspective?
We could divide $210 billion by 300 million Americans. That would tell us that the war has cost $700 for every man, woman, and child in America.
(How about you? Do you personally feel that you have received seven hundred dollars worth of freedom and security thanks to all the bombs we've dropped in Iraq?)
We can also divide the $210 billion by seventy million American taxpayers. That tells us the war has cost $3000 per taxpayer. Are those taxpayers satisfied with the 'freedom' from life and limb that our weapons have brought to so many Iraqi children – or would those taxpayers have preferred to 'selfishly' spend the money on college tuition and health care for their own children?
But maybe Americans don't count. President Bush says we will do 'whatever it takes' to help Iraq, implying that he'd even sacrifice America to save Iraq. Assuming we all agree with that sentiment, what have the Iraqis received – aside from demolished cities – for our $210 billion dollars?
Well, they haven't received enough to eat. A visit to a supermarket will confirm that microwave meals can be purchased for a dollar each, and so it is possible to provide a person with three square meals a day for only three dollars a day. The twenty-five million people of Iraq could be fed on $75 million a day, or $27 billion a year. That's only a small fraction of the $210 billion we've spent on Iraq. Yet, amid the ruins created by our violent occupation, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children are malnourished. Apparently, not even fifteen percent of our money is going toward nation-feeding – let alone 'nation-building.'
cont..........
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/schembrie3.html
Regards,
RJnAbbysNana |
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