DID YOU KNOW?

1.  According to the National Priorities Project, as of April 25, 2009, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has cost the U.S. $830.2 billion with $657.3 billion to Iraq and $172.9 billion to Afghanistan. A $77.1 billion supplemental request brings total war spending to $907.3 billion dollars since 2001. The war has cost North Carolina $22,471,940,801 with the supplemental request costing $2,085,786,970.

For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

• 5,259,652 People with health  care for one year or
• 19,483,457 Homes with renewable electricity for one year or
• 4,879,573 Scholarships for university students for one year or
• 4,590,447 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5350 or
• 232,429 Affordable housing units or
• 11,712,390 Children with health care for one year or
• 3,332,731 Head Start places for children for one year or
• 509,256 Elementary school teachers for one year

The taxpayers of Mecklenburg County have paid $2.8 billion for the war in Iraq & Afghanistan while taxpayers in Raleigh have paid $1 billion. In addition, the war has cost Asheville taxpayers over $177.2 million, Boone $21.7 million, Person county $103.9 million, and Union county $491.7 million.

2.  As of June 2009, 4314 U.S. military have died in Iraq (3458 from combat). 850 North Carolinians have been wounded and 101 have died in Iraq. By population, Fort Bragg is the largest Army installation in the world, providing a home to almost 10 percent of the Army’s active component forces. Approximately 45,000 military and 8,000 civilian personnel work at Fort Bragg.

3.  Governments around the world continue to allocate vast amounts of resources toward military expenditures. There is an enormous gap between the resources allocated for war-making and those directed toward peace-making. The $631.56 billion budget requests only $51.91 billion for homeland security (preventive), $30.27 billion for non-military international engagement (peacemaking), and 549.38 for regular military spending, excluding war spending (Iraq and Afghanistan).

U.S. military spending exceeds spending by the next 45 countries combined. It is 5.8 times greater than China (2nd highest), 10.2 times higher than Russia (3rd highest) and 98.6 times greater than Iran (22nd highest). U.S. military spending accounts for 48% of the world’s total military spending.

4.  The United Nations Development Program estimates that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world's poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion a year, less than could be saved by reducing the budget to maintain our vast arsenal of nuclear weapons to Cold War levels.

5.  The Selective Service will recognize objections to serving in the armed forces for either religious or moral reasons. According to Selective Service guidelines, conscientious objectors must object to military service on principles that are central to one's life. The reasons may be religious or moral but cannot be based on not wanting to fight in a particular conflict or simply not wanting to get hurt or killed or simply because one does not like the present government. However, the government’s stance is deeply problematic for those adhering to the Christian tradition of Just War, who must constantly evaluate the morality of particular conflicts, particular military strategies, tactics, and targets towards particular military objectives as the condition of their participation.

SOURCES

1. National Priorities Project, “The Presidents War Requests: Local Costs Updated,” April, 25, 2009, http://www.nationalpriorities.org/local_cost_of_war_april_2009
2. Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-bragg.htm
3. Institute for Policy Studies, “A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009” http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/a_unified_security_budget_for_the_united_states_fy_2009
From the same resource, the following chart describes potential changes in Defense Department spending moving from military to homeland security and non-military international engagements.
4. Bread for the World, “Hunger Facts,” http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/ and Institute for Policy Studies, “A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009”  http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/a_unified_security_budget_for_the_united_states_fy_2009
5. Mennonite Central Committee’s “Conscientious Objection Quiz,” www.mcc.org/us/co/quiz.