http://www.cocomment.com/comments/ChesterY Copyright 2007 coComment.com 2009-11-26T02:01:15.890+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/images/logo4rss.gif http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=ChesterY&conv=840515&comment_id=16411952 Chester I think the absolute number is huge and think the war is beyond a waste of money as it would be a wasteful endeavor even if it were conducted for free. My point was simply twofold: 1. I was personally pretty surprised that the GNP ratio spent on defense was at historic lows despite the war in Iraq. 2. I think that the money spent on Iraq, if it were not spent on Iraq would probably be spent in some other military direction, and not for health care or education. Moreover, given the ratio of the spending to overall GNP, I think the point is that spending on Iraq is not the reason why we cannot solve other problems that ail our nation. (I'm not saying either of you or anyone in specific have claimed this, but I have seen this claim or versions of it quite a few times.) Which, again, is not to say that the spending on war in Iraq and the war itself is not obscene. Just that I find the "value proposition" con argument to be the weakest of those available. 2007-06-28T11:58:39.201+02:00 2007-06-28T11:58:39.201+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=ChesterY&conv=840515&comment_id=16378594 Chester I'm not defending the war or even the "value" of it, but I was surprised to find out today, while reading a newspaper article during lunch, that U.S. defense spending is around all-time lows in relation to GNP: 4-5%. Moreover, the amount spent on the effort in Iraq is still only a fraction of overall defense spending. Neither of these points goes to support the war or the wisdom of allocating dollars to it. It does, however, seem to belie the idea that we are diverting funding from other things in order to support the war. 2007-06-27T21:43:52.187+02:00 2007-06-27T21:43:52.187+02:00