The cost of war

International Peace Day


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The cost of war
by Elahe Amani
21-Sep-2007
 

Today, September 21st is the International Day of Peace. This day was first inaugurated on the third Tuesday of September, 1982 and the goal of International Day of Peace was to "devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways. It should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples."

In 1999 filmmaker Jeremy Gilley launched Peace One Day to document his efforts to establish an annual Peace Day and in 2001, UN member states unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace, fixed as 21 September.

Beginning on its 20th anniversary in 2002, International Day of Peace has been set to be permanently observed on the 21st of September every year. The UN resolution said Peace Day is to be "a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day." Last year on Peace Day, more than 3500 Peace Day events took place in 200 countries.

The day-long celebration serves to remind us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind in human community, is to peace. May this Peace Day indeed be a day of peace.

But, despite the desire of the world community for peace and human
rights, the military expenditures in US and the world skyrocketing.
What is the cost of war to human community and to people in US?

World military expenditure in 2005 reached an estimated $1.1 trillion per year. This corresponds to 2.5 percent of the world Gross Domestic Product, or an average $173 per capita. (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute 2006) while the UN total budget for humanitarian programs amount to $10.5 billion a year.

This year, June, July, and August have marked the bloodiest summer so far for U.S. troops in Iraq. (U.S. casualties in Iraq are 65 percent higher this year than at this time in 2006. As of August 29th, 3,731 U.S. troops have been killed and more than 27,660 have been wounded in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. ( US Department of Defense, 8/29/07).

Congress has already appropriated nearly $477 billion for the war in Iraq since March 2003. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the U.S. is spending an estimated $10 billion per month in Iraq. (CRS, 6/28/07)

COST OF THE WAR BROKEN DOWN
* Month: $10,000,000,000
* Week: $2,307,692,380
* Day: $329,670,330
* Hour: $13,736,264
* Minute: $228,938
* Second: $3,816

Now, Imagine, what can be accomplished with a fraction of the cost of war.

* Repair the 70,000+ bridges across US rated structurally deficient: $188 billion
* Rebuild the levees in New Orleans to withstand a Category 5 hurricane: $50 billion
* Cover all eligible but unenrolled kids in SCHIP for 5 years: $47.5 billion
* Equip U.S. public safety officials with interoperable communication equipment: $18 billion
* Enroll 1.4 million more children in Head Start programs: $10 billion
* Double the annual budget for the National Cancer Institute: $9.5 billion
* Hire one new librarian for each public school in America: $4.6 billion

Let us all remember that genuine, lasting peace is impossible in the absence of justice.

True and lasting peace requires justice to all and respecting the basic human rights and human needs of all regardless of everything that diverse us as human race.

PEACE is more than the absence of war. It is about transforming our societies and uniting our global community to work together for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world for ALL.”


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"How can you tell a real

by Anon ymous (not verified) on

"How can you tell a real peace lover from a fake one?"
By listening very carefully! Some say peace and others like the state of perversion Israel say “piece”
qualified as god given …

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7wEctHyuc0&mode=re...


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The cost of war VS the cost of mullahs

by Anonymous1234 (not verified) on

Haleh claims that the U.S. is spending an estimated $10 billion per month in Iraq. She then claims how this money could be spent better.

Do you think we are fools Haleh? Do you think we care about the US economics? WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN IRAN??? Iran exports some $80 billion in oil every year. Do the math. THE MULLAHS ARE WASTING $7 BILLION OF IRAN'S OIL EVERY MONTH.

Got that? SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS PER MONTH. Now that's what we care. So save your IRI stenchy breadth and be more clever if you want to deceive the readers.

If I were the IRI, I would fire you today.


Azadeh Azad

The delegitimization of war!

by Azadeh Azad on

 

 

Given the serious irreversible human, environmental, health, psychological economic and social consequences of war support the contention that under no conditions or circumstances is war legal or just.

 


The member states of the United Nations must finally take the necessary actions to prevent the scourge of war.

 

(i) to prohibit the propaganda for war (International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights) and all war games and exercises

 

 

(ii) to declare that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace is a fundamental obligation of each state (2. Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace approved by General Assembly resolution 39/11 of 12 November 1984); and to demand that policies of states be directed towards elimination of the threat of war, particularly nuclear war (3. Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace; approved by General Assembly resolution 39/11 of 12 November 1984)

 

(iii) to commence negotiations, as a matter of priority, in order to achieve agreement on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances (Art. 1. Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1983);

 

(iv) to reallocate the global military budget (Habitat 1, numerous UNGA resolutions, Agenda 21, UNCED) and transfer the peace dividend to furthering global social justice

 

(v) to oppose misconstruing Article 51-self defence- of the UN Charter of the United Nations to justify invading a sovereign state, and to require all states involved in disputes to appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and respect the jurisdiction and decision of the ICJ

 

(vii) to condemn the notion of pre-emptive/preventive war, and the use of "human security", "humanitarian intervention" or "responsibility to protect" to justify increased militarism, and to legitimize invasion and occupation of other states

 

(viii) to reactivate the Nuremberg principles, and to set up international tribunals to try state leaders that have been responsible for crimes against the peace

 

(ix) to abolish the UN Security Council which violates a fundamental principle of the UN Charter- the sovereign equality of states, to strengthen the role of the United Nations General Assembly, to implement of the 1951 Uniting for peace resolution and to disband existing military organizations such as NATO

 

(x) to proclaim the delegitimization of war, and that given serious irreversible human, environmental, health, psychological economic and social consequences of war support the contention that under no conditions or circumstances is war legal or just.

 

- Joan Russow, Canadian Peace Activist

 

 

 

 


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How can you tell a real peace lover from a fake one?

by real peace lover (not verified) on

When US casualties are tallied up but not even a passing mention of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghans that have needlessly perished are presented (collateral damage in your world).
.
When the cost of fixing bridges and levees in the US are worth considering but not even a mention of the entire infrastructure of Iraq that has been destroyed. No need to mention that, 2 hours of electricity per day is more than enough for Iraqis
.
When US children's health care is worth a mention but nothing about the soaring rate of birth defects and infant cancer in Iraq due to the use of depleted uranium ammunition by the US forces.
.
I can go on but what's the point.


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