The cost of war: NY-13
Moveon.org has a fascinating new resource, a listing of the expense of the Iraq War extrapolated out to every Congressional district in the nation.
So let's take a look at what New York City's lone republican, Vito Fossella, is costing his community (.pdf file).
The Iraq War has cost New Yorkers as a whole $40.91 billion. The cost to residents of the Thirteenth Congressional District amounts to $1.56 billion.
From the report:
What Citizens of New York's 13th District Could Have Gotten Instead:
· Health care coverage for 283,252 people—or 536,733 kids, or
· Head Start for 177,181 additional kids, or
· 18,745 new elementary school teachers, or
· 256,786 scholarships to make college more affordable, or
· Renewable electricity for 2,917,228 homes, or
· 8,857 affordable housing units, or
· 30,939 public safety officers to keep the streets safe
These numbers become more scandalous when you compare them with actual Census data. The total population of the district is estimated in 2005 at 669,362; that's $2,330 and change per person in the district. The district has only 45,471 children under five, thereby eligible for Head Start - not 177,181. It has only 257,907 housing units - not 2,917,228.
The comparative cost of the war by New York Congressional District shows that the 13th has paid more than many for the war, with only the 1st, 2nd, 3d, 4th, 5th, 14th, 18th and 19th having paid more.
Maybe it's time for a Congressman who doesn't insist on throwing his constituents' tax dollars down the Iraq sinkhole. And that's without the human costs, which in a district with 45,046 veterans - notably not including the current Congressman - aren't exactly negligible, either.
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Iraq War | Brooklyn | Staten Island | Vito Fossella
THE COST OF WAR TO CD-13
Excellent report.
I was at a meeting on SI about 3 weeks ago when someone who didn't come from there remarked at all the streets with names on them. A SI resident told all of us that you can't go 10 blocks on SI without seeing that. These street names are of those killed on 9/11, and Staten Island lost the most residents. None of us will ever forget that day and the people who died but it's one that Vito Fossella has used to justify the spending for an illegal war in Iraq that was based on lies. Look at the money spent and think of what SI/CD-13 could have done with it to help the people who live there.
The money spent on this war could have done so much good for ALL RESIDENTS OF CD-13. Further to this, we'd have almost 4,000 of our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers sons, daughters, brothers and sisters alive and this doesn't include the almost 25,000 injured with over 12,000 permanently disabled.