Opinion

Web site shows money spent on war

Billions of dollars could be used more effectively

By Seamus McGrath

Posted on Oct. 30, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

On March 19, 2002, I got a phone call from a high school ex of mine. I was at a friend’s house and she called me to say, “Could you come over? I’m really scared about what’s on TV right now.” As I was leaving my friend’s house, I saw on the TV what she was talking about. CNN was broadcasting the opening shots of a war that, unbeknownst to us then, would be the defining war of our generation.

This story isn’t about the back-and-forth banter between politically conscious people and those who sling catch phrases around like a chimpanzee with fecal matter, debating how people protest instead of the content of their protest.

I won’t bother writing about my beliefs and how I think things should be run. I know damn well that if you’re reading this and you’re for the Iraq war, nothing I can say will convince you otherwise. You’ve heard what other, more articulate people have said about this and you’re still in denial about “their” reality. Instead, here’s the truth presented in its moonshine form, straight up, 200-proof and distilled in a bathtub.

If you go to http://www.costofwar.com, you can see, by the second, how much money has been spent on the War in Iraq. Not only that, you can see exactly how much money your individual community has spent. For example, my hometown of Portland has spent $43,904,378 and I’m watching it go up right now. Bangor has spent $17,941,605 in taxes for this war. Altogether, Maine has paid $910,074,000 in taxes for this war as of 12:47 p.m., Oct. 29.

I’ll provide you with some of the examples from the Web site to give you a better idea as to what these numbers mean: 44,188 Maine students could have their tuition paid for four years at a public university; we could have hired 15,771 new elementary school teachers for our overcrowded schools; 544,955 children could have health insurance for a year; 120,540 children could enroll in a Head Start program; 8,194 public housing units could be built for low-income families.

My point is that it’s no longer about political pride or power, but instead about our livelihood as a nation. I know supporters of the war are reading this and thinking, “he’d like to see Saddam back in power” or “sure, but if we didn’t fight this war, al-Qaida would be blowing up our schools.” This has been the same argument for four years now, and our strategy in Iraq is no longer to “stay the course,” or at least it’s not spoken explicitly anymore.

Is this it? Is this war worth all these costs and all the sacrifice? Look at what all this money has bought us. Our soldiers are dying, Iraq’s citizens are being slaughtered and the ire of the world is rising in opposition to our actions. Was it worth the $339 billion and rising?

As radio host and author Thom Hartmann points out, when you invest in schools, you get educated youth. When you invest in the environment, you get cleaner skies. But when you build bombs, you only destroy things. You do nothing to help create them.

Seamus McGrath recently defended his title of “Angriest Man North of Veazie.”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.