Previously posted on the Young People For Blog
This year the Iraq conflict will be as long as World War II. This makes me question and wonder where we are headed and what could possibly be the best remedy now. In history classes the great victorious war of our grandparents to ensure the freedom of the world seemed so long and bloody and full of courage. How will the conflict (congress never declared war) in Iraq be recorded in history - full of bloodshed, uprising, sectarian violence, failure, and limited successes. Both will have covered the same time span and yet we are still stuck in Iraq attempting to clean up the mess.
I read an article in the New York Times at breakfast in which David Leonhardt of Economix looks at the ways the $1.2 trillion, spent over the span of the Iraq conflict, could have been better spent. Check it out:
"For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign - a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children's lives.
Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn't use up even half our money pot ($1.2t). So we could even turn poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4- year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also recieve a huge increase in reconstruction funds.
The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations ot the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place - better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation - could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban's recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur."
These are the recommendations of one economist of what could have happened in our country and world insread of a nearly pointless conflict which many call a war because they have forgotten we were not supposed to be there very long. Will the Iraq conflcit come to rival World War II in length and magnitude of domestic and international impact? We shall see all in good time, or bad time. Time waits for no one, let's be sure no one is left behind. On that note be sure to support Barack Obama in his presidential hopes. What better progressive young leader could America be looking for?