I recently read Jon Christensen’s piece about
the loss of ranch land in the West to development (HCN, 3/29/04:
Who will take over the ranch?). Obviously, the public, primarily
through its federal government, which has the most money to spend,
has an interest in preserving these lands. This piece made me think
about the Iraq war and some simple math.
The article
indicated that about 100 million acres of Western ranch land is
left in private hands. It further stated that there was a shortage
of money to put these lands in the hands that will keep them
development free. The Iraq war has now cost us about $100 billion.
At about $1,000 per acre (a conservative estimate, given that prime
farmland sells for that much), enough money has been blown in Iraq
to buy all 100 million acres. Obviously, some of this land will
need to remain cattle-producing, and I am not arguing for such a
prohibition. But, the point here is to give some perspective on how
much money has been wasted in a truly unnecessary war. I
won’t even begin to address the loss of American and Iraqi
lives.
Jack Polance
Portland, Oregon
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Money wasted on war.
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