loosie: words: Clanton's Rant

Clanton's Rant

Over 2,200 dead soldiers are the least of America's losses in Iraq.

by Clanton McNeese | 2006.01.31

The American population is speeding toward the 300 million mark, and none too soon. This nation needs major contributions from every man, woman, and child to pay off the Iraq war debt.

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, today we hit 298,007,663. You may be dubious, pointing out that your Aunt Naomi died this morning, or that the unmarried couple in the already cramped apartment upstairs produced yet another baby, but the census computers are on top of those minus/plus movements. On the average, one American goes the way of Naomi every twelve seconds, while a new citizen is born every eight seconds. Add one "international migrant" every thirty-one seconds, and the trend is ever upward. On a typical day, the population grows by more than six thousand people, the equivalent of adding another Anadarko, Oklahoma, or Essex, Connecticut.

If researchers Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes are accurate in their projections, the cost of the Iraq war could total more than $2 trillion, or $6,667 for each of those 300 million Americans. For a family of three, that works out to $20,000. That's what we're paying. Here's what we're buying: Iraq's population of approximately 23 million, at a rate of about $87,000 per citizen. Of course, we're not really purchasing people. We’re simply prying them from under Saddam's thumb, including the Sunnis who seemingly enjoyed their privileged position.

Overall, this seems like a bad buy. Surely we could have made a deal with Saddam to scoop up the malcontents and settle them in Nevada or New Mexico at a significant savings. For a few bucks more, we fly in some camels, transplant a few date palms from Southern California, and watch that Middle Eastern entrepreneurial spirit flourish. U.S. travelers gain a tourist destination, Iraqi food establishes a foothold in American sand, and Saddam is left to bully only his own tribesmen. As a collateral benefit, thousands of soldiers and civilians stay alive. Others keep their limbs. Some stay sane.

But George Bush, accustomed to squandering government funds on stadiums and speechwriters, opted for the luxury package: boots on the ground, bombs in the air, bodies in pieces. His choice makes sense. It's hard to call yourself "a war president" without an actual war. Look at Iraq now. Notice the flattened buildings, the incinerated victims, and the grieving families. That's what wars produce. George Bush, like all the revered war presidents, cuts down foreigners like he's clearing brush.

Thus is blood shed. We believe, or pretend to believe, that all human lives are sacred, except for those of terrorists and other riffraff. But the truth is, except for the families and friends of the dead, and, of course, the dead themselves, the financial cost is far more damaging than the toll in lost lives. The expenditure of two trillion dollars represents lost opportunities for progress against disease, for improved education, for environmental preservation.

The news that much of the money spent in Iraq has been wasted or stolen shocks no one who has followed the Katrina aftermath. Nor is it a surprise that the Bush administration hugely understated the cost of war. Mitch Daniels, one of the figure-juggling Bush spokespersons/apologists/misinformers, labeled as "very, very high" an estimate that Iraq war costs might reach as high as $100 billion to $200 billion. Was Daniels sentenced to traitors' prison for grossly misleading the American people? Not exactly. He now resides in the Indiana Governor's Mansion as further proof that among loyal Republicans, nothing succeeds like incompetence.

But I refuse to surrender to bitterness. Look at the sense of community the current situation affords. Some new babies may be regarded as burdens rather than blessings by their parents, and some new immigrants may feel distinctly unwelcomed by their neighbors, but each new citizen will soon enough shoulder a share of America’s debt and remain an unwitting, lifelong financial supporter of George Bush, war president.