Money, Food, And War

Let's play around with some numbers.

Assumptions (these are estimates, and are subject to debate):

• If the U.S. did not invade Iraq, Saddam Hussein would continue his dictatorship and kill 100,000 innocent people per year. In three years, the Iraq death total would be 300,000.
• The 3-year cost (to the U.S.) to stop Hussein and attempt to bring democracy to the country is approximately $200 billion. This effort has also resulted in about 25,000 deaths.
• Currently, 9 million people starve to death every year. In three years, 27 million people die of starvation.
• The cost to prevent these starvation deaths is $60 billion per year, which works out to $180 billion dollars over three years.

After crunching the numbers...

If the U.S. spent $180 billion on world hunger rather than Iraq, 27 million starvation deaths would have been prevented and 300,000 innocent Iraqi citizens would be dead. And there would be $20 billion left over for something else.

It appears that it all boils down to a matter of priorities. Which lives are more important? 300,000 Iraqis, or 27 million people spread across the globe?

Discuss.