De Oorlogsstaat 82

Information Clearing House:
'Comparing the cost of war and domestic expenses. By Congressman John Murtha.

We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That equates to $2 billion a week, or $267 million a day, or $11 million an hour. The following are some comparisons between what we are spending in Iraq as we "stay the course" indefinitely and what those funds could be used for instead. I've been fighting for our military to get out of Iraq because I'm concerned about the loss of our troops and the future of our military, and also because I believe they have accomplished their mission there and the Iraqis must resolve their internal conflict themselves. However, I also wanted to demonstrate what these expenses mean to domestic policy in the United States and give you an idea of just some of the things that we could accomplish with this amount of money.
NATIONAL SECURITY

$31.7 billion/yr Department of Homeland Security FY 07 budget
(4 months in Iraq)

$10 billion (1-time) Equipping commercial airliners with defenses against shoulder-fired
(5 weeks in Iraq) missiles

$8.6 billion/7 years Shortage of international aid needed to rebuild Afghanistan
(one month in Iraq)

$5.2 billion (1-time) Estimated need for capital improvements to secure public transportation
(3 weeks in Iraq) system (trains, subways, buses)

$1.5 billion/year Radiation detectors needed at all US ports (rejected due to cost)
(5 days in Iraq)

$1.4 billion/ year Double the COPS (community police grants) program
(5 days in Iraq)

$800 million/year Public transportation personnel training and technical support
(72 hours in Iraq)

$700 million/year 100% screening of all air cargo - rejected because of
(2 days in Iraq) cost (1/4 of domestic shipping and 1/2 of international shipping is done on passenger planes)

$350 million (1-time) Make emergency radio systems interoperable (5 years after 9/11, this
(1.2 days in Iraq) hasn't happened yet)

$500 million/year Double the firefighters’ grant program
(2 days in Iraq)

$94 million/year Restore cuts to cities hit on 9/11 in Homeland Security budget
(8-1/2 hours in Iraq) '

Lees verder:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13976.htm