Five minutes of war

National Catholic Reporter, April 27, 2007 by Tom Gilsenan

I've been thinking about the recent editorial calling for an end to the Iraq war (NCR, March 30). I was struck by the fact we are spending over $11 million an hour on the war. That's about $1 million every five minutes. Five minutes of war would pay for 10 coffee shops like Wild Bill's in Iowa City and provide part-time jobs for 10 individuals with disabilities to work in each of these shops. Five minutes of war would buy a home for every one of the homeless individuals my friend Kelly Dobson feeds each Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. Five minutes of war would finance a college education for Judy and at least a dozen other people I know who don't have money for tuition. Five minutes of war would support Altman, Sierra, Jeremy and at least two dozen other fine young musicians I know here in Aberdeen for an entire year. Think how much music they could make to brighten our lives. Five minutes of war would help close the gap in school spending in one major U.S. city. In San Jose, Calif., for example, $1 million could close the $1,000 per child difference in spending between the Alum Rock schools and neighboring districts. For one hour of war, we could do all of these and much more. Just think what we could do with a day or a week.

TOM GILSENAN

Aberdeen, S.D.