$3214 Cash. Deal?

According to tha CIA (if you can believe anything they say,) the current population of Afghanistan is about 29,929,000 people, and the current population of Iraq is about 26,075,000. I've rounded things off a little.

Anyways, the combined populations add up to about 56 million survivors.

Though rising by over $1000 per second, as I write this the cost of the war is about $179,343,500,000. So, if you divide the cost of the war in dollars by the number of people in Afghanistan and Iraq you come up with roughly $3,214 on the increase.

Of course we've killed any number of civilians and fighters in these wars, so my little theory is going to be off by that much, but my point is this: we could have just paid every man, woman, and child in both Iraq and Afghanistan each about $3214 to just go away and not bother us, and it would still have been cheaper than going to war against them.

Hey. That's more money than Bush gave you when he cut taxes a couple years ago. A lot more. Sheesh.

Way back in 1979 when the oil was flowing, Iraqi per capita national income was only about the equal of 2313 U.S. dollars, and for 2004 that figure has dropped somewhat, to a scant $144.

It's about $200 for Afghanistan, but I think that does not take into account the recently increased heroin trade.

In either country, $3214 would be a considerable enticement for any one person to develop a warm and loving attitude towards the people of the United States. This could certainly have favorably affected the behavior of many insurgents and would-be suicide attackers, perhaps even persuading them away from violence.

Of course, if we had simply bribed the familes of all Iraq and Afghanistan into not harming us, then Halliburton wouldn't be raking in the millions they have become accustomed to in this war based on lies.

And that, really, is the whole point of this, isn't it?