Instead we could have done....

Another way to look at the 'cost of war'; instead of death, carnage, brutal maiming, sending the same troops (those would be our young) out into combat deployments over and over again with some redeployed up to 5 times..... in our country we could have done this instead (figures from 2004; will be more in 2005 and we've only just begun 2006);

Taxpayers in United States will pay $251.0 billion for the cost of war in Iraq. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

57,007,104 People Receiving Health Care or
4,349,898 Elementary School Teachers or
33,244,945 Head Start Places for Children or
147,677,463 Children Receiving Health Care or
2,260,014 Affordable Housing Units or
29,538 New Elementary Schools or
48,671,708 Scholarships for University Students or
4,325,722 Music and Arts Teachers or
5,655,541 Public Safety Officers or
444,059,161 Homes with Renewable Electricity or
3,931,781 Port Container Inspectors


and in my state (Washington)

Taxpayers in Washington will pay $5.9 billion for the cost of war in Iraq. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

3,573,076 People Receiving Health Care or
105,219 Elementary School Teachers or
639,517 Head Start Places for Children or
3,618,008 Children Receiving Health Care or
32,620 Affordable Housing Units or
583 New Elementary Schools or
1,181,409 Scholarships for University Students or
104,222 Music and Arts Teachers or
111,310 Public Safety Officers or
8,070,904 Homes with Renewable Electricity or
62,426 Port Container Inspectors


If you'd like to see what could have been done different in your state, here's a link to National Priorities Project website.