Numbers say it all :THE COST OF WAR COMES HOME: As military leaders warn the situation in Iraq is about to get more chaotic, a new study by the National Priorities Project examines the effect of the war in Iraq on each of the fifty states. NPP compiled data on the number of soldiers killed and wounded in each state, the dollar amount each state is paying for the war, and the number of their reservists and National Guard troops on active duty. The result is sobering. Pennsylvania, for example, has shelled out $6.3 billion of taxpayer money for the war in Iraq. Fifty-two men and women from the Granite State have been killed; 270 have been wounded. The state of Michigan has ponied up $4.6 billion. Thirty of its troops have been killed, and 2,352 of its National Guard soldiers and reservists have been called to active duty. (For a view of the federal scale, check out American Progress and Project Billboard's running total of the cost of war.)
THE COST OF MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: The National Priorities Project also calculates the cost of the Iraq war in missed opportunities. Current policies, the study finds, weakened international institutions and reduced capacity to work in cooperation with allies and others to prevent terrorism; neglected homeland security needs and nonproliferation; and diverted money away from domestic programs. In Florida, for example, the state paid seven times as much money for the war as it did for homeland security and domestic programs combined. In fact, for the amount of money Florida gave the federal government for the war in Iraq, 140,821 container inspectors could have been hired to protect America's ports. And for the $5.7 billion the state of Ohio has had to spend for the war in Iraq, 779,785 people could have received health care coverage. |