From the Democratic debates, to the network and cable news, to political blogs like this one...enough, already!
Sure, $87 billion is a lot of money. But let's keep some perspective: between the two Iraq wars we spent around fifty times that much on the military without any major conflicts.
And yes, 350-odd dead is a sad thing, no argument here. But these military men and women knew the risks when they volunteered. Meanwhile, in that same seven months, we in the US have experienced approximately:
--650 "unintentional firearm deaths" (also known as "accidental shootings": http://www.vpc.org/studies/whostate.htm)
--4,000 deaths from pharmacy errors (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/pharmacy_errors.html)
--50,000 preventable cancer deaths as a result of obesity (http://www.mercola.com/2003/may/7/obesity_cancer.htm)--and this doesn't include deaths from other obesity-related problems like diabetes and heart disease
I haven't even gone into other obvious statistics like drunk driving deaths, child murders, the list goes on and on...
It seems to me there are so many areas where government could make a big difference, save a lot of lives--yet our politics deals with them rarely or in passing, if at all. But Iraq, Iraq, Iraq...we never hear the end of it! I can't be the only one who is way beyond sick of the war issue being rehashed ad nauseam...can I?