Yesterday I discussed $20,900,000, the amount of money that the families in my sons’ high school have spent on the Iraq war since 2002. The war has cost each of the 1,000 families $20,900.
Let’s try this from the Iraqi perspective. The total cost of the Iraq war will have been $1.3 trillion during the years 2002 through 2008. According to the CIA Fact Book, there are about 27,500,000 people in Iraq. That works out to $47,273 per Iraqi. This, in a country with a per capita GDP of a whopping $1,900. (For comparison, the United States’ per capita GDP is $43,800.)
UNICEF pegs the average income of an Iraqi citizen at just $2,170. We are spending $47,273 per Iraqi for the eight years 2002 through 2008. That is $5,909 per person per year or six times the average income.
If we really want to effect change in Iraq and we are willing to spend that kind of money, might there be a better way to spend it than on warfare?
