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The Cost of War…
Aside from the deaths of American and foreign soldiers, Bush’s war in Iraq has cost the American people far more in terms of what the money could have been spent on these past five years. Recently the New York Times, did a piece on what $1.2 trillion could have funded and it’s really astounding.
First, had we not spent the money on the war, we would probably still have a balanced budget. And even if we didn’t, it wouldn’t be in as bad of shape as it is now. But let’s just say that we DID spend the money and dealt with the debt later. This is what the money could have been spent on…
According to the article, half of the $1.2 trillion could be used for a public health campaign, the likes of which have never been seen. Cancer research funding could be doubled, we could provide treatment for every American who’s diabetes or hearth disease is currently not being managed and on top of that, we could save millions of children’s lives through immunizations. And that’s just half the money for a decade of treatments.
We could also provide universal pre-schools for every 3- and 4-year old across the country and New Orleans could receive the money they need for reconstruction.
And finally, the remainder of the money could be used for national security. We could pay for better baggage and cargo screening and other 9/11 Commission recommendations could be put in place. We could also put more money towards the war in Afghanistan to stop the Taliban—remember they are the one’s that attacked us in the first place. Finally money could be used to help the peacekeeping forces stop genocide in Darfur.
But instead, the money was spent on a war in Iraq. And, it’ll probably cost another $20 billion for Bush’s planned surge of troops. The yearly budget for cancer research is $6 billion.
Makes you wonder what this country could be like if the money was spent correctly. Maybe the american dream could be a reality for more people.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under Entries, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.