Let's talk about the cost of a war...honestly

Now please believe me, regardless of what I write below -- losing one person is a HUGE loss in my opinion - but I do feel the opponents of Iraq have probably skewed the numbers and the death toll in their arguments favor. And I have a problem with that - why do they need to do that to make a point - why can't they just say the truth and trust that it will back their opinions up???

The cost of the war in Iraq seems inflated to me. Sure, we are spending a HUGE amount of money over there - but lets face it, we don't lay off all those troops if there is no war. We pay full price for them even if they are sitting on the couch eating potato chips .... really. And we have to have full combat gear for them "just in case" they need it. And they have to practice shooting, fighting, dropping bombs, driving, flying....even if there is no war. The Planes do touch and goes 24/7/365 where I live, and those are big planes - using lots of fuel and maintenance. So it appears to me, someone needs to determine how much a fully prepared military costs vs. the cost of one in Iraq and I bet the true cost of the war is much much less than the war opponents say...

And lets talk about the death toll. Again, let me say that one person killed is not good. However, this post is about reality folks. We have over 130,000 troops over there last I heard. Any of you from a town of that size? OK - Good, now open the paper and read the Obits -- I bet more people are dying in any town that size than are dying over in Iraq. OK - so you say, but the Military are typically fit young people - so -- how many military folks die each year without a war -- I bet if you get those numbers together, the death toll in Iraq vs. watching TV at home isn't really much different....

Just food for thought.

Pete