On this other forum that I often visit, there seems to be a somewhat heated discussion about the cost of this war so far. Depending on who you listen to, a Tomahawk Cruise Missle cost between $1 and $2 million. Defense Sec. Rumsfeld said the US fired 50 such missles thus far, or, converted to monetary value, spent $50 to $100 Million, not counting the fuel for the Navy vessels and aircraft involved. Since it seems that Afghanastan’s total net worth is just short of $15 bucks, it seems we are spending a ton of money to destroy “cheap” assets.
Let me ask you this question: How much are those six thousand people who died at the WTC worth? I say, they are worth everything we have until we end modern terrorism as we know it. If you look at this as a profit and lose scenario then wake the fuck up please. Terrorism can not be counted in terms of “we spent this much to blow up their base that cost that much.” That is not the type of profit we are talking here. The profit is measured in human lives, not dollars and cents.
How much is your safety worth? Enough for the US to spend whatever it takes to find and destroy the terrorist cells now operating in the world? I hope so. I know my safety is worth that much. Well, maybe not my safety, but my 10-month old son’s safety is worth that, easy.
But let’s think about how we are going about the destruction process. We are firing an unmanned drone that cost $1-2M to blow up training bases and defense facilities. We are not charging the 101st Airborn over the mountians to do it. No, because we can do it without putting a single American life at risk right now. We just may have to send the 101st and 82nd Airborn over the mountians, but right now we don’t have too. I’d rather the US spend 100 billion this way destroying targets and putting the Taliban on the run. What makes the difference if it’s done by a person or a machine, other than we don’t have to put an American life at risk. Destroyed is destoryed, end of story.
Did you know that one of the reasons we are attacking the Taliban defense systems so unmercifully is so that planes with aid (foodstuff and medicine) can drop their payloads to Afghan civilians without the worry of being fired on? The stealth fighters could operate with all the Afghan defences turned on and still not get hit, but that’s not why they are doing it. They are doing it to protect the C-130’s stuffed full of food. We care more about the Afghan people more than the Taliban does.
And what of the Taliban? They are now making a giant deal that 4 UN workers were killed during the last US raid. Yeah? What of our 6 thousand? What of your 2.2 million now on the run, trying to flee your regime? Osmas Bin Dover kills 6 thousand of our people and they care not. We kill 4 UN workers that they probably had locked in that building as human shields and they throw a fit. That’s how hypocrites are and we’re going to have to get used to it. We are going to hear more stories like this.
Shoot those Cruise Missles for as long as you can Dubya. You clearly respect life more than anyone right now.