The War In Iraq Costs
$248,541,176,569, as of 9:30 AM today,
Sunday, March 19th, 2006
Instead, we could have paid for
NATIONALLY
32,919,361 children to attend a year of Head Start
. Health insured 148,827,196 children for one year.
built 2,237,883 additional housing units
we could have hired 4,307,264 additional public school teachers for one year
provided 12,048,795 students four-year scholarships at public universities
INTERNATIONALLY
fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for 10years.
fully funded world-wide AIDS programs for 24 years.
have ensured that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for 82 years.
& How to place a cost of war running counter on your website.
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Local anti-war protesters unite
By SHANNON PEASE and CARLI TEPROFF spease@MiamiHerald.com
Demonstrators drenched themselves in fake blood and carried flag-draped cardboard coffins in protest of the war in Iraq in Fort Lauderdale this afternoon.
The protest, along with one in Miami, were among many happening around the world over the weekend to mark the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
''Our main goal is to get across to the American people that the current U.S. occupation is not delivering democracy and liberation to the Iraqi people the way it was promised by the Bush administration,'' said Rae Abileah, a 23-year old California resident, who is part of the Code Pink Women for Peace group that organized the event.
About 200 participants, ranging from students to Democratic candidates, held signs that read ''Honk for Peace'' and ''$ For Education Not Occupation,'' while others drummed paint cans and chanted ''Peace For Iraq.'' Participants from across the United States attended.
At the Fort Lauderdale protest, some passing motorists lent support by honking, while war supporters hollered out of car windows while traveling through busy intersections.
Demonstrators, led by a pink Chrysler Sebring convertible, led a march down State Road 84 near Federal Highway, stopping in front of the National Guard Armory before returning to Welcome Park for speeches. Dr. Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist from Baghdad, sat propped up in the Sebring holding a sign that said ''Occupation is Terrorism,'' in both Arabic and English. Ariabi's month-long visit to the United States was sponsored by the Code Pink. Ariabi was there to share her first-hand experiences, Abileah said.
A makeshift memorial consisting of more than a dozen white crosses with purple ribbons was set up at the park.
Richard Collura, 39, dressed in his Navy fatigues, protested with an anti-war sign. Collura, of Coral Springs, said he was proud to serve in the first Gulf War, but does not agree with the current state of affairs.
Vicki Ryder, founder of a local branch of ''Raging Grannies,'' went to show her support of the protest. The group, made up of woman ages 45 and older, protests war through song and rhyme.
''I know conflicts can't get resolved by dropping bombs on people,'' said Ryder, 63, of Delray Beach. ``I teach my granddaughter to use her words, not her fists.
In Miami, more than 100 people gathered in front of Bayside Marketplace this afternoon holding up signs and chanting ``Bring them home.''
The members of the Democracy for America Miami and Veterans for Peace planned the protest event to commemorate the day the war began.
In addition to the signs, the groups set up Arlington Bayside, a mock cemetery with 1,000 tombstones marked with the names of the fallen. Dave Patlak, a Coast Guard veteran, said that the tombstone represent only about half of the Americans who lost their lives.
More than 2,300 Americans have died since the war began.
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