GRRR!

I was just talking to one of my good friends Traci. She was telling me that today, the death tole from the war reached the number 4,000. That's American soldiers dead. 4,000. It's really amazing to think about. Imagining that each of those soldiers had a spouse or loved one and parents, we're looking at approximately 12,000 people affected. That's not taking into account those children who are left without a parent. It's time. It's time to be done there. What exactly are we accomplishing now? Is it something that is worth the sacrifice of 4,000 of our own? I don't think that it is! I know September 11 was terrible; but what are we doing now? What is this all for? When will it be done? According to CNN's website (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/10/29/wtc.deaths/)We lost 2,752 people that day in the twin towers. We have lost 4,000 more thanks to this war!
Traci was not completely accurate with her numbers. There are 3,991 confirmed deaths (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf) These are soldiers that are confirmed to be dead. Currently there are 8 pending deaths, which cannot be confirmed. All of these numbers are for Operation Iraqi freedom, and for US soldiers.

We have lost 483 soldiers in Operation Continuing Freedom.
We are looking at a total of many more than 4,000. What about soldiers from other countries? What about innocent by-standers and those who are being killed? Well more than 4,000! A total of 29,395 American soldiers have been wounded. (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49313)
I don't want this war. I think we entered into the war based on half-truths and lies, and I think we need to be honest enough to admit that to ourselves. This is not our war to fight, it never was. Our economy is failing, instead of withdrawing troops and investing those BILLIONS of dollars on our struggling economy, let's buy tanks and battle ships and blow things up!!! As of January, $416 billion has been spent on this war! (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf)
In Rwanda, the cost to build and run a 6 building orphanage is $48,000. That includes the yearly salary for teachers. Using the money we have spent on this war, we could have built 8.5 MILLION orphanages in Africa!!! (read why I know this, in an article I wrote http://www.standard.net/live/110720)

Currently there are 73.7 million children in the US. The most recent figures available from the U.S. Department of Education show that in 2000 the average tuition for private elementary schools nationwide was $3,267. At this rate, we could send each student under the age of 18 in America to private school for 1.74 years.

We need to fund education, we need to take care of our elderly and poor, and we need to stop this war. We need to quit the the squandering of billions of dollars.
Why don't we do something with our money that matters!