Pretty soon the US will have sunk or allocated approximately $160,000,000,000 into this Iraq "war" (I use quotes because Congress has never actually used its Constitutional power to declare that the US is in a state of war with Iraq.)
According to the CIA fact book, Iraq has a population of slightly less than 25,000,000 people. That works out to a US expenditure of $6,400 for every person in Iraq. Although neither the CIA nor the World Bank have current values for per-capita income, it is fairly clear that $6,400 amounts to several multiples of the yearly income of the average Iraqi.
The $160,000,000,000 for Iraq appears to be merely the first installment of what promises to be a long and expensive transfer of money out of the pockets of US Taxpayers.
So, let's really support our troops - let's bring 'em home by Christmas - this year, 2003! And let us use the money saved to pay what amounts to several years of income directly to every citizen of Iraq. That way they can rebuild their country according to their own desires and we will have more families in the US who mark the return of their sons and daughters with a celebration rather than a funeral.
Posted by karl at October 30, 2003 6:29 PM