How much does one day in Iraq cost us?

[proud2BlibKansan]

One day of the Iraq War:

720 million dollars

34,904 4 year scholarships for university students
1,274,336 homes with renewable electricity
6482 families with homes
1,153,846 children with free school lunches
95,364 Head Start places for children
12,478 elementary school teachers
84 new elementary schools
163,525 adults with health care
423,529 children with health care

How can we meet our moral obligation in Iraq, while adequately funding good schools, health care, jobs, housing, infrastructure, renewable energy and public safety at home?

* 9 million Americans are unemployed, 35 million live under the official poverty line, 44 million have no health insurance, and millions more are unable to make ends meet.
* States face their worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, and the yearly federal budget deficit is passing $500 billion and growing rapidly.
* Thousands of military families earn so little, they are struggling to get by. We need to fully fund services and benefits for U.S. troops, veterans and their families.

http://www.afsc.org/iraq/us/default.htm

[Philosoraptor]

1. It's a number.

To quote tony snow.

Obscene is such a poor word to use for these figures, words just don't have much meaning anymore.

[Horse with no Name]

3. So is the Dow and the Nasdaq

Funny the reaction to THOSE numbers...

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I have been getting really angry lately

when I think about all the money we spend on this damn war and at the same time the kids in my school are spending their days in a 95 year old building that isn't air conditioned. Now the damn governor and the selfish repukes in Jeff City have decided our kids don't need health care either.

:grr:

[Philosoraptor]

2. I'd like to know how much the averages senator/congressman makes a year.

And then add it all up, all of the politicians earnings, a total we could all see and relate to, even the secret money they never report.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. A good friend of mine has been sending letters to our esteemed representatives

asking them to disclose their own personal profit from this war.

I have been doing research for our local task force on campaign contributions. I discovered that one of Dennis Moore's top contributors is AFT, the teachers union that represents the teachers in my district (KCMO). This makes no sense as there are no AFT districts in Moore's district. The only one in Kansas is Wichita. But the national office gave him $15,000 last election! Now I think I understand why he is working so hard to change No Child Left Behind :)

But I think if we follow the money, we will make many more interesting discoveries.

[Journeyman]

6. In casual discussions, I use these numbers as a monetary standard. . .

in which one hour equals $30 million, a day is $720 million, a week is $5 billion, and a month $20 billion. Then I insert the terms as possible.

"Yes, I think the town should build a new library -- after all, it'll only cost $3 Iraq Hours."

"A new highway through that part of the county would be great and would only cost $1-1/2 Iraq Weeks to build."

"It's true, health care for all children in this state would be expensive, but we're only talking about $4 Iraq Months each year."

It brings the cost of the IraqAttaq in to sharper focus, and helps people conceptualize in easily understood terms the tremendous, needless drain this occupation exerts on all our lives. It's also a somewhat innocuous way to bring the Catastroph@#k into normal conversation (especially these days, when so many former supporters are loathe to even consider this disaster's true impact on the world).

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. What a great idea!!

[avrdream]

22. Great idea Journeyman

Why aren't the Democratic presidential nominees using these numbers the same way? It is very powerful when put in terms like that.

[DFW]

8. That puts things into perspective!

That's $500,000 a minute!

Hell, I know Republicans who don't make that in a whole month!

[baldguy]

9. About $1000 per human life.

[Wapsie B]

10. I totally agree with you.

And this is how the greatest country on earth takes care of it's own? What's even more telling is what happens to those soldiers coming back from Iraq injured and disabled. If they're no longer of able body to serve as cannon fodder for the korporate interests of this country they're thrown on the scrap heap and discarded.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. The best thing we can do for disabled veterans

is stop making them.

[RiverStone]

11. Why is this point lost on those that enable Shrub's war?

Because they don't feel the pain. It has no bearing on how they shop, play, watch reality shows, or sleep at night.

Of course, gas prices are in the mix --- but it is all to easy to convolute that with industry production shortages or whatever.

The really sad thing is, the people who will be paying for Shrub's immoral and reckless war of aggression are my children and my children's children. They will be paying for the rethugs idiocy long after Shrub and Shooter are gone. My future grandkids will read about them fools in history books --- and the Iraq war debt will be not even be close to being paid off.

[Quantess]

12. Hardly "Conservative".

Democrats are sometimes called tax 'n spend. Bush is just spend 'n spend.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. You gotta add "kill"

Bush is spend and kill and spend.

[Joey Liberal]

17. That is a great line! n/t

[Hamlette]

15. where did you get that number? I couldn't find it at the link

the number I've heard is $276 M

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. From AFSC

It is on a flyer I picked up the other day

[mnhtnbb]

16. $200 million/day is number seen at many links

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11880954/

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/10/the_real_cost_o.php

Which is still $200 million/day too much.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. This is from a new exhibit AFSC is sending out to churches

And yes, I agree, regardless of the amount, it's too much.

[blueworld]

18. What if we measured it by gallons of blood? Or inches of burned skin?

Or children who will grow up without siblings, or with disabled parents, or as orphans! What if we extrapolated that number out a few generations, since American & Iraqi children will be paying the price long after the pigeons are pooping on *'s library.

Every time the phony-in-chief or his vice-asst or Boner or Lieberman etc. start whining or braying or crying about funding this war & fighting "them" there & supporting our troops - I'd like the Dems to run the pictures of all the dead & wounded on a screen in the background. It would put the bucks in perspective.

Thanks for providing the figures. More people need to see this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Lost limbs

Brains injured.

It's all so damned infuriating.

[Toots]

23. And if you double that amount you know how much we are paying on Interest on our Debt

Imagine if we didn't have a debt nor an Iraqi Occupation..Just Imagine...$2 billion a day every day for good instead of evil..Where is Ross Perot when you need him...