The National Priorities Project calculated the per capita financial cost of the war in Iraq, then totaled the spending based on each state and congressional district. Counting the funding that’s already been appropriated and what’s up for vote, it calculates Kansans’ share at $3.6 billion. The share for those who live in the congressional district of Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, is $894 million, according to the group. For that same amount of money, the groups contends, nearly 130,000 Wichita-area children could have received health care for the length of the war, or nearly 11,000 affordable housing units could have been built.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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27 Comments
Interesting article and an immaculate display of statistics.
However, a hypothetical on what could have been and should have been won’t change the facts, change the time chronology nor will it heal a wound or pay for the education of a child.
I suspect one could calculate the cost of the new arena into that and come up with a great advantage for school children in Sedgwick county.
Or perhaps using the arena fund to pay for a substantial portion of funds needed to cover maintenance and reconstruction at Universities .
Perhaps the Arena monies could have been used to cure the many financial woes of Wichita and Sedgwick county, but they weren’t.
I can hope and wish all I want, but diddling with statistics in hypothetical situations won’t get the job done.
How many children can we feed with Phillip’s salary?
What exactly constitutes affordable housing? A project, slum, ghetto, or trailers? They never exactly define that term.
The fallacy of this type of statistical comparison is the assumption that were the money not spent on a war, it actually would be spent on something constructive. That just ain’t gonna happen.
Sadly, this cold statistical game doesn’t take into account the real human tragedy of this misguided war.
“What exactly constitutes affordable housing? A project, slum, ghetto, or trailers? They never exactly define that term.”Posted by: Wayreth | March 15, 2007 at 02:03 PM
haha! Good point Wayreth.
I suppose back in the day of the pioneer in America, affordable housing would be how good your mule was, how sharp the ax and how healthy your back was gonna be on days of sunshine. :)
raptor – you were right about the fallacy of spending, but there are other spins in this article.
First, the cost of war is high, but the cost of defeat is higher yet. With the confession of the recent terrorist, we find that the breeding of hatred in Islam began LONG before we invaded Iraq, and it was our war on terror that brought this scum to the surface where he could be apprehended.
And the saddest thing (to me,) is that a recent victory for our soldiers and for the United States, and the good guys, in general….is bad news for the Liberalists.
The surge in Iraq is PROVING to be successful in saving lives. This leaves Dems anxious because they spent taxpayer time passing non-binding (read, ‘fluff’) resolutions denouncing not only the build-up, but our presence there at all.
Now, we discover a 911 mastermind and the surge is working.
Unless the Dems can come up with a better platform, their hopes for an Oval Office possession in 2008 will be a short-lived as their memories of their votes.
GS – I fail to see A) how we are having PROVEN success in Iraq – the ONLY Proven success would be a victory – which isn’t happening, sorry to burst your bubble or B) how this is “hurting all the liberalists” – My concern goes much more towards the lives of the soldiers we are losing in this fallacy of a war – noone EVER (or at least I myself and anyone I can readily recall) said that militant islam wasn’t a threat – I believe the stance to be more along the lines of we are fighting the WRONG war (not to mention, when you fight a war against an ideology instead of against a physical entity it is nearly impossible to win anyways) – what the hell did Iraq have to do with terrorism in relation to the 9/11 attacks and how the heck are you managing to draw the line between the two – THAT is what I argue against…
GSheridan:
You live in a fantasy world, shaped entirely by your love of the Republican Party. You are a sick, sick person. Care more about the Republican Party than reality, or even the lives of our soldiers (and certainly not uninsured children right here in KS). Guess that makes you a typical fascist pig.
ddub,
If believing in our troops make me a sick, sick person, then I’m a facist pig as well. :)
“If believing in our troops make me a sick, sick person, then I’m a facist pig as well”
Its not ‘believing in our troops’ – its believing everything you nuts are fed by Bush and the GOP. And then you try to hide behind the troops and say that those opposed to Bush’s disastrous war are not ’supporting’ or ‘believing in’ the troops. Typical disingenuous fascist swine.
You support the troops so much and their ‘mission’ in Iraq (whatever it happens to be today) WHY NOT SIGN UP AND GO OVER YOURSELF? Oh, that’s right, you’d rather post anonymously on a website touting your ’support’ of the troops. What a f****** joke. Don’t lie – the only thing you support or believe in is the Republican Party. ‘People’ like you make me sick.
HEY! I support the troops! I have a magnet on my SUV! And I vote to cut VA funding so we can spend more on our contractors in Iraq. After all, they are the reason the troops exist!
I’ve already served my time in the military ddub don’t think they would let me back in my condition.
I have faith in the military, because I know what it can do regardless of who is in charge. There is nothing more humbling than to see a flight line loaded up with aircraft from one end to other, waiting to escort troops and supplies to some far away destination. It is even more humbling when you realize that the base you are on, is only a tiny fly speck of the amount of materials, manpower and machines that can be directed towards an enemy.
As far as being anonymous, this is a screen name, it’s part of the Internet get used to it.
Go to a multi-player game Website and look to see how many people use their real names in the game or on the game forums. There are too many skanks out there that will abuse your personal information.
May I suggest some tums or your choice of anti-acid for your indigestion. :)
Hi GOPSHILL,
How’s it going?
You know, I’ve seen that email of mailto:White@house.gov on several different posters in the past week.
Do you think the White House is trying to send us a message?
:)
I have faith in our soldiers; however I do not see how they can indefinitely prop up a failed regime. Unless Maliki can put together a credible government their brave efforts will be for naught.
Repub:
No one doubts the ability of the military to win wars. They did just that in Iraq. Trying to hold a fractious country together on the other side of the earth with a criminally negligent administration running things is next to impossible and should NOT be the job of our military. They did their job, bring them home to their families. To me, supporting the troops goes beyond swallowing empty platitudes about their greatness and ability and blindly accepting what the administration terms as ’successes’ in Iraq, despite all appearances of the exact opposite of what they claim is happening. I support the troops. I support the troops NOT DYING FOR A MADMAN’S CATASTROPHIC DECISION.
We are entitled to our opinion and beliefs ddub.
I shall leave it at that. :)
The Army is saying that the troop surge and the battle for Al Sadr is gaining ground.
But isn’t it more because the Al Sadr leader, earlier this year, said they were pulling back?
And, even though the insurgency in Baghdad seems to be subsiding, it is becoming more active in other parts of the country?
Posted by: Ken | March 15, 2007 at 09:41 AM
Posted by Republican (I think) on the open thread blog:
Maybe Ken has a point about Al Sadr pulling back and the reason for success.
However, I tend to be an optimist about our Armed Forces and believe that the reason Al Sadr is pulling back is because of the success of our Military. I would liken this to the success we had against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Sure, the Taliban have tried to come back, but are unable to gain any foothold as the people of Afghanistan and now the NATO forces have come together to push back any of the Taliban advances.
I don’t remember the exact reason Al Sadr was pulling back, but it wasn’t because of any success of the Army in the region, the insurgents were kicking Iraqi and US ass with ied wtc …
I don’t remember the exact reason Al Sadr was pulling back, but it wasn’t because of any success of the Army in the region, the insurgents were kicking Iraqi and US ass with ied wtc …Posted by: Ken | March 15, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Interesting way to put it Ken. I’m sure you wouldn’t be invited to any Marine Corp get togethers. :)
When Bush proposed the ’surge’, one of the conditions was that the rules of engagement would be changed.
No longer were we going to allow the Iraqi gov’t to free certain persons we had taken prisoner, and some other rules changes.
One of the changes is that ‘Sadir City’ is no longer off limits to US Forces. Thats why Sadir skedaddled.
perhaps, Bush finally let his military ‘take the gloves off’.
(Excerpts from) “Posted by: ddub | March 15, 2007 at 05:21 PM”
“Trying to hold a fractious country together on the other side of the earth”
Isn’t that what we did for Germany, Japan, et al.. ?
“with a criminally negligent administration running things”
?? Huh? That sounds inflammatory and unsubstantiated. Is the young Iraqi govt perfect? Of course not, are they trying under the circumstances? I hope so.”They did their job, bring them home to their families.”
The job is not done until Iraq (ergo, the region), is getting stabilized. Individuals have done their job, but, the bigger picture is not done.
“swallowing empty platitudes about their greatness and ability and blindly accepting”
Again, ??HUH?? Sounds like an excerpt from “The Dictionary of Overstatements”.
“NOT DYING FOR A MADMAN’S CATASTROPHIC DECISION.”
Once more, see “The Dictionary of Overstatement”.
I was kind of wondering about the “affordable housing” thing myself. In Wichita almost ALL the housing is affordable. You can still buy a house in most of Wichita for $100,000 or less. Not so most other places.
Well, I see one of the cut and runner’s has shown back up in the form of the traitor, “ddub.”
hahahahaheheheehee
But what kind of house is that, Kev?
Are you talking about modulars?
When they say “affordable” they usually mean new housing. And I’ve not seen any stick-framed homes in that range in quite awhile.
I want to go on record here – and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, as saying that no one should buy into modular (or trailer) housing if they can get into a stick framed home.
Of course, there ARE exceptions, if the stick-frame is old and has major structural damage – you might be better off buying into modular, but for the most part – dollar for dollar – you will LOSE on your investment if you purchase modular.
On the other hand – be wary of those who say you can buy into stick-frame for too cheap of a price, and never, never sign a contract for a new home in a development without getting a ‘turnkey’ price. Often, you are quoted a ‘base’ price and you need to add a LOT for other items, such as carpet, tile, etc.
I went through some new homes in Wichita a couple of months ago. The mass-market builder was using unseasoned wood in much of the home. That’s a typical problem, since lumber is in demand these days and ‘green’ wood is plentiful. It’s especially sad when the builder uses trusses (as this one does) and they are out of green wood.
Anyway, I can go on for literally hours on what to look for and what NOT to buy, but no one is likely listening, or caring….so….I better get back to designing my ads. lol
And for those who bought that new dream home and don’t know how to get that builder back for repairs – give me a holler.
GSheridan
Just an FYI,
I bought my 1500 sq ft, 3 bed room house for about 90k 4 yrs ago. Today its county apprasial is 101k. My neighbor sold his house for 105k. The one down the street is listed at 98k. One on the other street is listed at 95k. All stick built, all built in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
They are very well built, all wood floors, very nice… Just an FYI…
Al Sadr is sitting back laughing at the US for doing the round ups for them. They’ll just wait and execute all the Sunni prisoners after we leave. The Sunnies on the other hand are being stubborn and stupid.
Bush Private Army at Taxpayer Expense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqM4tKPDlR8