puts it in perspective

While signing an on-line petition (Obama: End the Occupation of Iraq) today, I ran across the above statistic, and sadly, it was not at all hard to believe.  While we are in an economic crises, with global ramifications, it's impossible for me to ignore how much money has been spent on the war in Iraq.  It's actually disgusting.

Here's what the site had to say:

The first four years of the Iraq war cost American tax payers $1 trillion dollars -- the equivalent of $720 million each day or $500,000 per minute! At the same time, over half a million American and Iraqi lives were lost, and the education, health and economic infrastructure of the country was destroyed.

What Iraq needs is sustained peace-building and sustainable solutions to deal with the war's aftermath. For less than 1/5th of what the U.S. spends in one day in Iraq, we could be providing teachers and better education for over 150,000 school and college-age Iraqi refugees!

Not to mention all the other good that could be done with the money: affordable health care, green energy, helping those struggling in these harsh economic times and more.

Please sign this petition (as well as many more) by becoming a member of Care2.  It's one of my new favorite web-sites.  Take action; you never know what a petition, a peaceful means of engagement, could do.