What are Americans sacrificing to remain in this war with Iraq? In 2007 the amount of money spent on the war could have been used for 21,510,598 full four-year scholarships to public universities,7,689,734 new public school teachers, health insurance policies for 265,701,285 uninsured people, or housing for 3,995,293 homeless families (Iraq War Spending). The numbers are astounding. Keep in mind that these numbers were estimated over a year ago. The numbers have been increasing daily for over a year now. Americans are sacrificing their education greatly. Many families could have been helped with new homes or health insurance, but because of the war, we cannot provide the money to help these people.
Is it worth it? This is not a question I can answer for anybody else, but for me, personally, it is not worth it. I believe that we should be helping our own nation get out of this economical slump and providing help for those less fortunate. In a poll done by CBS News, sixty-four percent of Americans say the war was not worth it. Twenty-nine percent said it was worth it (Poll). However, President Bush will tell you a different story."Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed, every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real. Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country" (Baker).
Whether or not you think it is vital to our country or not, we must ask ourselves, why do we continue to spend so much money on this war? We are putting ourselves farther into debt every day. Why do we do this? The way I see it, it seems like a contest we don't want to lose. Everybody told us it was a bad idea and a waste of money but we did it anyway and we want to prove them wrong. It is like Bobby saying to Billy, "You wont be able to eat all of those peppers." Then Billy goes and eats all of the peppers even though he knows he will probably throw up because of it. Others may not agree with me, but I fear that continuing the war is a bad idea and we should abandon it.
We need to reduce the amount of money being spent on this war that the majority of Americans do not even agree with. We need to begin spending money on the things that are important in our country like education, health care, poverty, and jobs. Imagine how great America could be with billions of dollars going towards the people.
Works Cited
Baker , Peter, Dana Milbank. "Bush says war is worth sacrifice."Washington Post 29 June 2005 A01. 6 Nov 2008 .
"Cost of War." National Priorities Project. National Priorities. 6 Nov 2008 .
"Iraq War Spending vs. Education Spending." Education Portal 16 July 2007 6 Nov 2008 .
"Poll: Most Americans say War not Worth it." CBS News 18 March 2008 6 Nov 2008 .>.
2 comments:
I agree that if we pull out of the war and discontinue the spending it will greatly improve our economic standing. However for me it comes down to an ethical issue. If we pull out now, we are leaving an unstable newly imposed democratic government in Iraq. By ending American intervention immediately they will surely fail. Is it right for us to leave them to fall when it is our fault they are in the situation to begin with? I agree that something needs to be done though or we will be in a worse situation than we are in now.
I agree that the war on Iraq is not worth what it is costing. However, as Brittany pointed out, we did overthrow the previous government and pulling out now would be an even worse tragedy than instigating the war in the first place. However, your blog was insightful and it was intriguing the amount that we could be bettering the domestic situation (through education, health care, etc)as opposed to spending on a war that is tarnishing our reputation abroad.
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