What a war can buy...

[IrishHand]

The last one is my favorite - especially as a response to those who (incorrectly) argue that those opposed to war failed to offer reasonable alternatives. Seems to me I read a number of just, legitimate alternatives to war in the months of discussion prior ot the invasion... More importantly, war should be the final alternative considered, and the final alternative adopted - at least insofar as you place a high value on human lives and national sovereignty (which, coincidentally, every civilized nation claims to).

At any rate, here is an article for your amusement, if nothing else...

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WHAT A WAR CAN BUY....compiled by Jeremy Ross

The cost of a war in Iraq has been estimated by the Bush administration at:
$75,000,000,000.00. But what does this figure really mean? I've investigated what $75B could buy in 2003.

Here is a short list:

(1) Free health care for 50,000,000 people in the developed nations (based on current per-capita expenditures in Canada)

(2) Adequate basic health care for 5,122,950,820 people in developing nations. (based on estimates by Dr Lieve Fransen in 1997 and with 2% inflation incorporated)

(3) All undergraduate expenses (tuition and living) in America for:
- 2,709,831 private university students (4,104,416 tuition only)
- 5,840,667 4-year public university students (18,377,849 tuition only)
- 7,171,543 community college students (43,227,666 tuition only)

(4) 375,000,000 "Simputers" (cost-effective computers for developing nations)

(5) At least a 17% rise in income for each of the 1.2 billion people estimated to be living on less than one dollar a day.

(6) Habitat for Humanity homes for:
1,875,000 families in America
2,939,332 families in Hungary
3,018,959 families in Romania
29,469,548 families in the Democratic Republic of Congo
30,788,177 families in Sri Lanka
32,552,083 families in Papua New Guinea
35,714,286 families in Guatamala
41,829,336 families in India


(7) 112,570,356,500 cans of Budweiser beer

(8) 441,176,470,600 handgun bullets ($0.17/each)

(9) 75,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles

(10) 37 B-2 Sprit stealth bombers (plus change for 22 F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters and 10 Joe Millionaires)

(11) 46,875,000,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline (Ohio, March 2003, USA)

(12) 2,616,887,648 barrels of crude oil (March 24, 2003)

(13) Hiring 688,206 top-notch U.N. weapons inspectors for a year.

Source Article (http://www.clamormagazine.org/warbuys.html)

[Clarkmeister]

Forget all that crapola. I could buy 2,500,000,000 lap dances and 5,000,000,000 beers!

Screw the 3rd world countries.

I'd also have a nice 750BB bankroll in the 500,000,000-1,000,000,000 holdem game down the street.

[B-Man]

Why is it that when some people are proven wrong, instead of just admitting their error, they keep bringing up the same old arguments in the hopes that somehow they can now win them?

The war is over. It wasn't a disaster, it wasn't the next Viet Nam, it wasn't impossible to take Baghdad without burning it to the ground or starving its residents out, there were not thousands of U.S. casualties (actually, I think there were less than 200 total including the British), regime change was accomplished, and Iraq is no longer a threat (at least in the foreseeable future) to produce or export WMD (unless you believe Iraq invented SARS /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif ). I'd say the war looks like an overwhelming success.

You are better off keeping the topic of discussion on the rigged NBA--at least it is rigged in favor of your favorite team.

[nicky g]

You're ignoring his point, which as that the amount of money spent on the war, and on the US military generally, could be used far more beneficially, and without killing anyone at all.

[B-Man]

And you are ignoring mine. The war is over. We can't go back and undo it now. Yet the anti-war crowd continues to bring up the same arguments over and over again.

If you are interested in debating specific items in the federal budget, there are many I have a problem with. The war isn't one of them.

[adios]

We had a War on Poverty in this country. Talk about a waste of money. What you state in theory sounds good but in reality government administered transfer payment programs tend to be quite wasteful. Also unprovoked attacks from enimies can be very expensive as well.

[ACPlayer]

I dont think that "winning the war" proves any body who opposes it was wrong or who supported it was right. It remains to be seen how history will perceive this. So far the only real tangible results are at least a couple of years of social chaos in Iraq and a bump in the polls for the Bush regime.


Plus of course there is the question of whether the upcoming Syrian Freedom and Iranian Freedom(of course Iran is a democracy - which many people ignore) operations will be right or wrong.

[Glenn]

As much as I don't want to agree with a Red Sox fan, the arguement put forth is obviously quite flawed. Where exactly do you get 600000 people who can be weapons inspectors, for instance? What is the cost of keeping Saddam in office? It must be deducted from the 75 billion obviously. Also, the 75 billion doesn't dissapear, it goes to American companies who build the weapons, so it is paying for housing and food and college educations as people are employed by these companies. The money spent to rebuild Iraq is quite similar to the humanitarian aid suggested in the original post. To think differently is to think on only one level.