{"id":1985,"date":"2011-03-23T16:20:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T21:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2011-03-23T16:20:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-23T21:20:14","slug":"the-cost-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost of war"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1988\" style=\"margin: 0px 8px\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a>It does not take a lot to imagine the connections between conflict and poverty. \u00a0I have always thought of the impacts in terms of deaths, loss of productivity, damages to infrastructure, crippling of foreign trade and investments, increased disease, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Two recent stories made me think about other ways in which hunger and poverty are exacerbated and perpetuated in conflict. \u00a0First, I learned a couple of weeks ago that the annual cost of a single soldier in Afghanistan is $1.2 million (see page 8 of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csbaonline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/2010.06.29-Analysis-of-the-FY2011-Defense-Budget.pdf\">this report<\/a> from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments). \u00a0In total, we will spend $159.3 in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other unspecified purposes (outlined on page 7 of the same report). \u00a0It is proposed that we \u00a0spend $739 billion in national defense in 2011, which, when adjusted for inflation, is the highest amount since WWII (page 13). \u00a0Second, in our initial assault on Libya, we launched 110+ Tomahawk missiles. \u00a0Each missile costs <a href=\"http:\/\/www.navy.mil\/navydata\/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&amp;tid=1300&amp;ct=2\">$569,000<\/a>. \u00a0The total cost of this assault was &#8220;only&#8221; about $62 million. \u00a0There are fears, perhaps justified, that this initial act, while not formally a declaration of war, will lead to war. \u00a0And this will of course mean more money spent.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the kicker for me. \u00a0We are spending these huge amounts on war (which leads to all the things I mentioned at the start of this post) as we are slashing foreign aid programs and domestic social service programs. \u00a0I know that Gadaffi is a ruthless dictator and caused widespread destruction, and we are regularly assured that Afghanistan is essential for our national security, but is this really the best way for us to spend our money? \u00a0Do we truly want to eliminate those programs that help people so that we can fund those that harm people? \u00a0How many teachers and schools could be maintained with one\u00a0(or 1,000!)\u00a0less soldier in Afghanistan? \u00a0\u00a0How many social programs could be funded without a day of Tomahawk barrages? \u00a0What would our world look like if our highest priority was eliminating poverty instead of eliminating &#8220;threats&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>Agree or disagree, let me hear it!<\/p>\n<p>David Creech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It does not take a lot to imagine the connections between conflict and poverty. \u00a0I have always thought of the impacts in terms of deaths, loss of productivity, damages to infrastructure, crippling of foreign trade and investments, increased disease, and so on. Two recent stories made me think about other ways in which hunger and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It does not take a lot to imagine the connections between conflict and poverty. \u00a0I have always thought of the impacts in terms of deaths, loss of productivity, damages to infrastructure, crippling of foreign trade and investments, increased disease, and so on. Two recent stories made me think about other ways in which hunger and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Creech\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b\"},\"headline\":\"The cost of war\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/\",\"name\":\"The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/the-cost-of-war\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The cost of war\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/\",\"name\":\"ELCA World Hunger\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b\",\"name\":\"David Creech\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Creech\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/author\\\/davidcreech\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger","og_description":"It does not take a lot to imagine the connections between conflict and poverty. \u00a0I have always thought of the impacts in terms of deaths, loss of productivity, damages to infrastructure, crippling of foreign trade and investments, increased disease, and so on. Two recent stories made me think about other ways in which hunger and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/","og_site_name":"ELCA World Hunger","article_published_time":"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"David Creech","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Creech","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/"},"author":{"name":"David Creech","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/#\/schema\/person\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b"},"headline":"The cost of war","datePublished":"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/"},"wordCount":346,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg","articleSection":["Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/","name":"The cost of war - ELCA World Hunger","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-23T21:20:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/#\/schema\/person\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2011\/03\/tomahawk1-300x168.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/the-cost-of-war\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The cost of war"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/","name":"ELCA World Hunger","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/#\/schema\/person\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b","name":"David Creech","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c941c0ce06b3f97a220429abcd932145f414da54432333f06607267c52c125b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Creech"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/author\/davidcreech\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}