Cost of war (From Barry And District News)

Cost of war

WE HEAR a substantial amount about the Iraq war, but very little about its cost, but now we know.

Opening the Pensioners' Parliament in Blackpool, Rodney Bickerstaffe, President of the National Pensioners Convention, gave a breakdown for us all to hear; and a "breakdown" is what we should have!

In the first 18 months the war has cost us £10 billion, equivalent to: 625 schools; or 56 hospitals; or 500,000 trainee police officers.

On September 11, 2001, 2,500 people died in New York; that winter 22,000 British pensioners died of cold-related illnesses. Contrast the publicity achieved for the first by dearth for the second. Where was the outrage?

Once-upon-a-time, Pacifists flocked to join the Labour Party as did thousands of others; now they are leaving in their droves.

What marvels that £10 billion could fund for the Health Service in Wales, if only our Health Minister, Jane Hutt AM, could get her surgical gloves on it!

Christopher Short

Redbrink Crescent

Barry Island