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Monday, May 14, 2007
(AP Photo)
While there is some disagreement on the idea of troop deadlines for US soldiers in Iraq, all sides seem to be on board with the amount included in the bill to fund the war.
Including the $124.2 billion bill, the total cost of the Iraq war may reach $456 billion in September, according to the National Priorities Project, an organization that tracks public spending.
The amount got us wondering: What would $456 billion buy?
Including the $124.2 billion bill, the total cost of the Iraq war may reach $456 billion in September, according to the National Priorities Project, an organization that tracks public spending.
The amount got us wondering: What would $456 billion buy?
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2,949 Newton North High Schools
Tagged as the most expensive high school in Massachusetts, at $154.6 million, Newton North High School could be replicated almost 3,000 times using the money spent on the war.
(At left, the central corridor of the current Newton North High School/Globe File Photo)
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30 Big Digs
At almost $15 billion, Boston's Central Artery project has been held up as the nation's most expensive public works project.
(At left, the central corridor of the current Newton North High School/Globe File Photo)
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30 Big Digs
At almost $15 billion, Boston's Central Artery project has been held up as the nation's most expensive public works project.
Now multiply that by 30 and you're getting close to US taxpayer’s commitment to democracy in Iraq… so far.
(At left, the central artery which was replaced by the Big Dig tunnels/Globe File Photo)
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Free gas for everybody for 1.2 years
US drivers consume approximately 384.7 million gallons of gasoline a day. Retail prices averaged $2.64 a gallon in 2006. Breaking it down, $456 billion could buy gasoline for everybody in the United States, for about 449 days.
(AP Photo)
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Or go green (with ethanol)
With just one-sixth of the US money targeted for the Iraq war, you could convert all cars in America to run on ethanol. TheBudgetGraph.com estimates that converting the 136,568,083 registered cars in the United States to ethanol (conversion kits at $500) would cost $68.2 billion.
(AP Photo)
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14.5 million years through Harvard (44 million at UMass)
At published rates for next year, $456 billion translates into 14.5 million free rides for a year at Harvard; 44 million at UMass.
(2006 MIT graduates played with a hot
air balloon ball/Globe File Photo)
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Medicare benefits for one year
In fiscal 2008, Medicare benefits will total $454 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation summary.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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A LONG-term contract
The Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka agreed on a six-year, $52 million contract. The war cost could be enough to have Dice-K mania for another 52,615 years at this year's rate.
(Globe Photo)
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Need more perspective?
According to World Bank estimates, $54 billion a year would eliminate starvation and malnutrition globally by 2015, while $30 billion would provide a year of primary education for every child on earth.
At the upper range of those estimates, the $456 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for five and a half years.
At the upper range of those estimates, the $456 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for five and a half years.
(Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
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Do you have any other ideas on how to spend $456 billion -- or comparisons for what that money could have bought?
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
YOUR VIEW: What does $456 billion buy? *********************************
These are the "official" DOD stats for our American Soldiers killed in Iraqnam...I am almost certain that these numbers are probably a lot higher...
From Anti-War.com
Operation Iraqnam Liberation
10-acious_D
The New Defenders Of Freedom
Let's Not Forget The Human Cost's...
These are the "official" DOD stats for our American Soldiers killed in Iraqnam...I am almost certain that these numbers are probably a lot higher...
Total: 3396 Confirmed: 3384 Pending: 12
From Anti-War.com
| American Military Casualties in Iraq | ||
| Date | Total | In Combat |
| | ||
| American Deaths | ||
| Since war began (3/19/03): | 3395 | 2786 |
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) | ||
| Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): | 2934 | 2480 |
| Since Handover (6/29/04): | 2536 | 2153 |
| Since Election (1/31/05): | 1958 | 1890 |
| American Wounded | Official | Estimated |
| Total Wounded: | 25245 | 23000 - 100000 |
Latest Fatality May 13, 2007 | ||
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Iraqi Civilian Count
IRAQ BODY COUNT: Civilians Reported Killed by U.S. Military Intervention in Iraq
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
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WANT MORE WAR?!?
There was another good Bill Moyer's NOW special that shed some light on the real HUMAN cost of the Iraqnam Occupation that our "Liberal Media" refuses to show us because then the American people will see the real cost in lives destroyed...Iraqi Civilian Count
IRAQ BODY COUNT: Civilians Reported Killed by U.S. Military Intervention in Iraq
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ There was no "benchmark" recognition when indiscriminate Iraqi civilian deaths passed the 1,000 mark -- not even when it passed the 5,000 or 10,000 mark. To the Western media, Iraqi civilian deaths are nothing to be mourned -- no more than the thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths at the hand of a settler-colonial apartheid state, or indiscriminate Afghan civilian deaths (and about 1 million, if you count the decade-long U.S.-provoked and sustained war with the Soviets), or indiscriminate Panamanian civilian deaths, or the *millions* of indiscriminate Vietnamese civilian deaths, ... And yet we have the nerve to wonder -- in psychological denial -- "Why do they hate us?"
This "Iraq Body Count" at the web address below is a fairly reserved count of confirmable and confirmed deaths. This count does NOT include Iraqi resistance fighters who died defending their country from the U.S.-imperialist occupation of their--i.e., the *Iraqis'*--land and the puppet regime the U.S. has set up. Even the establishment/coporate news (CBS News, in particular)--which always tends to undercount civilian deaths by the U.S. military--says the number of civilian deaths is at least (currently) 20,000. And other reasonable estimates are as high as (currently) about 37,000. The albeit broad 20,000 to 40,000 range is reasonable, as Israel killed about 20,000 civilians in its then invasion of Lebanon in 1982 (Israel also invaded in 1978) in a relatively smaller war.
-Joseph Anderson
This "Iraq Body Count" at the web address below is a fairly reserved count of confirmable and confirmed deaths. This count does NOT include Iraqi resistance fighters who died defending their country from the U.S.-imperialist occupation of their--i.e., the *Iraqis'*--land and the puppet regime the U.S. has set up. Even the establishment/coporate news (CBS News, in particular)--which always tends to undercount civilian deaths by the U.S. military--says the number of civilian deaths is at least (currently) 20,000. And other reasonable estimates are as high as (currently) about 37,000. The albeit broad 20,000 to 40,000 range is reasonable, as Israel killed about 20,000 civilians in its then invasion of Lebanon in 1982 (Israel also invaded in 1978) in a relatively smaller war.
-Joseph Anderson
I can say for certain that the Iraqi Civilian count is way off, but this has got to be the most accurate I have seen so far...
 |  |  |
 |
| Central Command | Department of Defense | Profiles of Americans Who Have Died |
| BBC News | Coalition Casualty Count | The Washington Post |
| Iraq Body Count | Fox News | Listing by month |
| Search Casualties by Name | ||
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WANT MORE WAR?!?
The Hidden Casualties in Iraq Overview
12.09.2004 11:48
Thousands of injured and ill soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are not being counted in the Pentagon's official tally of the wounded because they are considered "non-hostile" casualties. Some say that if they were included, it would triple the total casualty count. The Pentagon claims that until NOW's (Bill Moyers' PBS-TV program) request, it hadn't been asked for those numbers. But, critics say these often debilitating injuries are not being reported in order to keep Americans from getting a clear picture of the human cost of war. NOW's Michele Mitchell profiles some of these soldiers who may spend the rest of their lives scarred and disabled, but whose sacrifices are not being counted by the nation they served.
Some watchdog groups suggest that even the combat casualty numbers for Operation Iraqi Freedom released by the Department of Defense are not fully accurate. Journalists like those at NOW have had a hard time tracking down numbers for non-combat wounded. Indeed, the detailed wounded "Military Wounded in Action" reports released by the Department of Defense Directorate of Information Operations have a section labeled for non-hostile casualties which has been left blank. (See the report for Operation Iraqi Freedom since May 1, 2004, PDF)
Non-combat deaths have been counted by federal government for many of America's wars. In some instances, non-combat fatalities far outstripped combat deaths. For example, in the chaos of the American Civil war, 184,594 died on both sides from combat, 373,458 additional people lost their lives to disease, malnutrition and accident. In the Mexican-American War fully ten times as many soldiers died of non-combat causes, mostly disease, as died in battle. In the first Gulf War, battle deaths were only 148, non-battle deaths in the war theater reached 235 and non-battle non-theater deaths totalled 914. As figures for wounded historically outstrip those killed, some say the missing non-combat wounded numbers may indeed be much higher than the casuality totals now tracked.
Read the whole article on PBS/NOW with Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/now/society/casualties.html
Thousands of injured and ill soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are not being counted in the Pentagon's official tally of the wounded because they are considered "non-hostile" casualties. Some say that if they were included, it would triple the total casualty count. The Pentagon claims that until NOW's (Bill Moyers' PBS-TV program) request, it hadn't been asked for those numbers. But, critics say these often debilitating injuries are not being reported in order to keep Americans from getting a clear picture of the human cost of war. NOW's Michele Mitchell profiles some of these soldiers who may spend the rest of their lives scarred and disabled, but whose sacrifices are not being counted by the nation they served.
Some watchdog groups suggest that even the combat casualty numbers for Operation Iraqi Freedom released by the Department of Defense are not fully accurate. Journalists like those at NOW have had a hard time tracking down numbers for non-combat wounded. Indeed, the detailed wounded "Military Wounded in Action" reports released by the Department of Defense Directorate of Information Operations have a section labeled for non-hostile casualties which has been left blank. (See the report for Operation Iraqi Freedom since May 1, 2004, PDF)
Non-combat deaths have been counted by federal government for many of America's wars. In some instances, non-combat fatalities far outstripped combat deaths. For example, in the chaos of the American Civil war, 184,594 died on both sides from combat, 373,458 additional people lost their lives to disease, malnutrition and accident. In the Mexican-American War fully ten times as many soldiers died of non-combat causes, mostly disease, as died in battle. In the first Gulf War, battle deaths were only 148, non-battle deaths in the war theater reached 235 and non-battle non-theater deaths totalled 914. As figures for wounded historically outstrip those killed, some say the missing non-combat wounded numbers may indeed be much higher than the casuality totals now tracked.
Read the whole article on PBS/NOW with Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/now/society/casualties.html Operation Iraqnam Liberation
10-acious_D
The New Defenders Of Freedom
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