Mar 19, 2008

Aside from the slaughter, the cost of the Iraq war

A piece in The Nation -- The Wages of Peace shares some shocking facts about the cost of the Iraq war:
  • US has spent $522 billion on the Iraq war, with another $70 billion already allocated for 2008.
  • For the amount of the 2007 Iraq budget of $128 billion the US could have
  • given health insurance for all 45 million Americans who are uninsured.
  • Added 30,000 elementary and secondary schoolteachers and built 400 schools.
  • Provided basic home weatherization for about 1.6 million existing homes, reducing energy consumption in these homes by 30 percent
  • The US government spent an estimated $572 billion on the military in 2007. This amounts to about $1,800 for every resident of the country.