Smart Weapons

The Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy In Focus have produced a report on the price of the war in Iraq (PDF). The 68 page document lays out the human, security, economic and social costs of the war for the US, Iraq and the world. One item that leapt out at me:

The $151.1 billion spent by the U.S. government on the war could have cut world hunger in half and covered HIV/AIDS medicine, childhood immunization and clean water and sanitation needs of the developing world for more than two years.

We spend so much money creating smart weapons to destroy a nation that we then have to spend even more money rebuilding. In the long run, fighting AIDS and hunger and poverty will do more for our "war" effort than all the bombs and bullets that we rain down on innocent civilians. Investing in humanity is a smarter weapon than anything we have in our military arsenal.

ntodd