Iraq Occupation Now Costs TWO BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK

That's right.  TWO BILLION dollars.  Every Week.  That's the story straight from The Boston Globe; I encourage everyone to read the whole thing.

The war that Rumsfeld said would only cost a mere $1.7 billion dollars TOTAL is now costing us that much EVERY WEEK.

This war that Paul Wolfowitz said would pay for itself is going to BANKRUPT the U.S. Treasury.

We can talk torture, and the Bill of Rights, and habeas corpus and executive overreach until we're blue in the face.  But NONE of it will matter more than a hill of beans to the Average American compared to THIS.

And it's time we put these numbers in terms that every American can understand.  It's time we showed the American People just what "Staying the Course" costs in American dollars--not just in American blood.  Let's see what $2 billion a week buys, shall we?

For the cost of ONE YEAR of the Iraq "war", we could GIVE every single Iraqi $38,896.  Yes, we could GIVE thirty-eight THOUSAND, eight hundred and ninety-six dollars to EVERY SINGLE PERSON LIVING IN IRAQ.

For the cost of ONE WEEK of the Iraq War, we could buy:

689,655,172 Big Macs at McDonalds.  Yes, that's six hundred and eighty-nine MILLION, six hundred and fifty-five thousand, one hundred and seventy-two Big Macs.  That's enough Big Macs to feed America's entire homeless population for years.

655,737,705 Starbucks lattes.  Yes, that's six hundred and fifty-five MILLION, seven hundred and thrity-seven, seven hundred and five Starbucks lattes.  Enough to boost the productivity and morale of all white-collar America for years.  I kid, of course.

5,000,000 million computers at $400 a computer.  Yes, that's FIVE MILLION COMPUTERS for disadvantaged children all across America--in exchange for ONE WEEK in Iraq.

32,435,939 standard school textbooks.  Yes--for the price of ONE WEEK in Iraq, we could buy thirty-two MILLION, four hundred and thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine school textbooks.  But hey, who needs schools?

AIDS cocktail drugs--full price FOR A YEAR--for 192,308 Americans living with HIV.  Yes, boys and girls, for

just ONE WEEK IN IRAQ, we can supply one hundred and ninety-two thousand, three hundred and eight Americans with a YEAR's worth of anti-AIDS drugs--even at Big Pharma's inflated prices.

Public university tuition for 163,105 students.  Yes, you heard that right.  For the cost of ONE WEEK in Iraq, America could pay the entire public tuition costs of one hundred and sixty-three THOUSAND, one hundred and five students.

We could rebuild the New Orleans SuperDome.  TWELVE TIMES OVER.  All for one measly week in Iraq.

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All we need to do is make this sort of thing a campaign ad--and keep hitting home with it all the way through November.

Many Americans see our troops in Iraq as toy soldiers in a giant game of risk; they're in Iraq to "fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them here."  Sadly, many Americans care more about their petty wallets than about the blood of their fellow men and women overseas.

It's time to remind America what this Neo-Con fantasy adventure is costing them.

TWO BILLION DOLLARS.  EVERY WEEK.  Isn't it time we did something DIFFERENT, for a change?