The economic and political gurus continue their studies of correlation analysis and they have been recently studying the "cost and benefit analysis" of a possible American war against Iraq. Such studies all make statistical inferences with a 99% accuracy on the growth or reduction of the American Gross Domestic Product in relation to the input cost of the war, ranging from some $20 billion to $1.9 trillions, and the multiplying monetary value of the liberated Iraqi oil.

Now, my rationality is not as good as these neoclassical gurus in predicting the Gross Domestic Product (directly correlated to the Gross National Product), but further than that I don't want even to tackle the scientific study of the monetary effects of the possible Iraqi war. In fact, I don't believe that the Gross Domestic Product is an accurate measure of our growth. Therefore, before President George Bush gives the green light to the American Defense Forces stationed in the Middle East for the liberation of the Iraqi oil he should be reminded of what Robert Kennedy stated back in 1968 about the Gross National Product (Gross Domestic Product):

Too much and for too long we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community values for the mere accumulation of material things. The Gross National Product is now over 800 billion dollars a year. But that Gross National Product, if we judge the United States by that, counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonders in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts [the killer's] rifle and [the rapist's] knife and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the Gross National Product does not [include] the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America, except why we are proud that we are Americans.

References

Zycher, Benjamin, Howell Raines in Power. The Times wages war on an Iraq , August 6, 2002, http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-zycher080602.asp

Official Projections Underestimate Cost of Iraq War, According to American Academy Report December 03, 2002 http://www.amacad.org/publications/monographs/Iraq_Press.pdf

Kennedy, Robert F. Address, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968 http://gadfly.igc.org/papers/price.htm