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$1 Trillion for Wars Makes No Sense What is $1 trillion really worth? This May 30 at 10:06
a.m., we will reach another dubious milestone in our almost nine years of
war. At that precise moment, we will have spent $1 trillion in operational
costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tracked by the National
Priorities Project’s cost-of-war counter. What is $1 trillion worth? NPP
explains it this way: if you made a million dollars a year, it would take you
a million years to earn $1 trillion. Of course, most Americans don’t earn $1 million a year.
In fact 9.9 percent earn nothing, because they are unemployed. It’s a shame
that we have wasted that $1 trillion on war, Many such tradeoffs exist, tantalizing us with what
could have been. For instance, with that $1 trillion we could have given 4-year
scholarships at state universities to the 2 million freshmen currently
enrolled—and do the same thing again in each of the next 23 years. Or we
could have provided the estimated 500,000 homeless families across the U.S.
with affordable housing—and done that each year for the next 17 years. In other words, $1 trillion has the potential to
completely wipe out major domestic social problems that desperately need
funding as we cope with the effects of the great recession. But some very
different choices have been made. Runaway spending on the wars and the
military in general puts us in a situation where priorities like education,
housing and many other vital domestic needs will be taking a back seat. Is
war worth it? Congress is on the verge of approving yet another
“emergency” war spending supplemental, this time for $34 billion to pay for
the escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Last weekend (May 22-23) for the
first time the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan surpassed those in Iraq.
We’re winding down one misguided conflict only to accelerate another. And
we’re doing so with borrowed money. For generations we will be paying the
price of these wars with a diminished capacity to respond to the needs of
people and communities in our own country. Sadly, our unfunded domestic needs are not the only
cost of war. Why do we continue to spend in pursuit of a military solution in
Afghanistan when nearly nine years of war should prove that it is not
working? Imagine what spending a fraction of that money on building schools
for Afghan girls, or rebuilding an infrastructure decimated by 30 years of
war and occupation, could do for the “hearts and minds” we currently are
trying to win through drone strikes and the spring offensive in Khandahar. The human and economic cost of the wars cannot be
separated. In yet another sad convergence, we will reach this $1 trillion
milestone on Memorial Day weekend. There is no way to quantify the tragedy of
the lost lives of the U.S. soldiers and countless Iraqi and Afghan civilians.
Each dollar spent on the wars not only was diverted from peaceful, productive
projects, but also contributed to these lives lost. That is the greatest
tragedy of all. Take some time this weekend to remember those who have
died in Iraq and Afghanistan. And take a moment to let your members of
Congress know that this out-of-control war spending is NOT worth one more
dollar or one more life. Mary Zerkel Huffington Post, 25 May 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com |
