Costs of War: Eyes Wide Open

Picture courtesy of American Friends Service Committee.

As I walked around the capital, looking at the boots, thinking of the lost potential of those lives, I felt deep sorrow. I also felt strange juxtaposition of war and the incredible elegance of the capital building. I was also thinking we could not afford to build this building today. Today, we are so neglecting maintenance and replacement, that bridges are falling."

The magnitude of the war devastation is overwhelming, even when the war is in other countries. The mere 60 boots on display should have 3990, which does not count deaths off the battlefield. There should be 30,000 wheelchairs to symbolize the wounded from this war. And how do we list the children who had class sizes of 35 instead of 20? Do we list all our children on scrolls of the less educated? What do we list for lost pensions and a floundering economy? An eviction notice with a list for all of those who lost homes? And is there any symbol for lost honor and lost standing in the world, for being the country that kidnaps people and tortures them - a torn up constitution? Yes, the 60 boots were really a very small display of total cost of war.

I was going to print Becky Loury's incredible speech, Silenced Majority has quoted it in full. So I will just echo the part on total costs of war. Becky Loury speaking at the capital:

It is the war in iraq that is causing the crumbling of our own economy, it is the unchecked greed of the pepple at the he;m of our failing institutions as they walk away with golden parachutes and their employees lose their pensions and their jobs. Where have our morals gone? We have a president who told us to go spend money in time of crisis - I was raised to believe that it is not spending, but working - jobs that are needed to meet the challenges facing our world - that build and rejuvenate an economy. And war only makes a few rich - the oil companies and a few defense contractors.(Silenced Majority)

At some point, one has to ask do these wars reflect our values? Is this loss of life worth it? Do these spending graphs reflect our values?

Then why don't we just stop? Every poll of the Iraq and Afghanistan people shows that they want us gone. Somehow they really believe that they can govern themselves better than our occupation. Why don't we just stop?