There's one thing you can say about war: it squanders an enormous amount of money that could have been put to really good use elsewhere.
By some estimates direct, indirect and hidden costs of the Iraq war are already well past a trillion dollars. Some predict the total will reach two trillion before America finally leaves that country.
Imagine if all that money had been channeled, instead, into things like fighting malaria, unlocking the cure for cancer, ending child poverty and famine, even combating global warming. Just imagine.
But that money is gone, squandered, and who is the better off for it? There are some winners. Defence contractors around the world are reaping big profits right now as nations around the world go for their guns. Bush loyalists have done awfully well for themselves but, then again, so have Islamist radicals, drug lords and a host of lesser criminals and thugs.
Maybe if we could just gather all the winners at one spot - let's make it the edge of a cliff. Imagine.
2 comments:
Well the whole point of war is economics, isn't it?
I never have though, been able to resolve the finely tuned question of, "what do you import when you export war". Perhaps another reader can answer that one.
For Iraq, clearly the answer is US oil companies reaping billions (or should that be, 'raping billions?) and for Afghan pillars of commerce? Much improved shipping channels.
Lighten RBTE, war is good.
Jeez, Anon. Why do you have to be such a realist? Don't you understand that we only wage war to bring liberty and happiness to the world?
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