The wave of horrendous photographs we have yet to see…

Most recently in the wake of outrageous human rights abuses carried out by the U.S armed services (or contracted services) on prisoners in custody of an American occupied Iraq, President Bush had the audacity to ask for another 25 billion dollars to shore up our defense of freedom (via our invasion of Iraq). This request for additional funding comes following a most recent congressional subsidy of $85 billion extra to this cause.

How much is 112 billion dollars? I flash back to Bush's 2003 State of the Union announcement where the president pledged $15 billion, in 5 incremental years (and uncharitable red tape headed by the past CE0 of Ely Lilly ), to fight the AIDS epidemic that has polarized Africa and become the concern of the world.

30 million people are afflicted with this virus in Africa alone. Many fear this real ‘tyrant', AIDS, may threaten the very existence of that continent and consequently have a tsunami effect on the world.   

This pledge comes at a time when AIDS representatives have stated that a very possible cure if not massive relief to this plague could be achieved if this gift were to be contributed now in a lump sum!

If you tally all the money that has been spent on the Iraq invasion and occupation, coupled with the resources and American lives sacrificed (including those innocent Iraqi citizens lost as collateral damage), and compare this to the beneficial effects for the world for discovery of an AIDS vaccine and related programs for pain relief for AIDS victims, the second far out weighs the overturning of a small country in the Middle East suffering from the indigestion of a toothless tyrant. And at a fraction of the cost!

If Americans are truly about bringing moral turpitude to the world and liberating it from tyranny, on the taxpayer's dime, then let's look at the options that might allow us to get the most bang for our buck.

Hmmm, should we invade an ‘oil rich' country on false pretenses with no real plan on how to succeed and manage its incarceration all for the price of an unlimited budget and lives (while farming out the job spoils to the Veep's cousin) or: should we spend a fraction of what this might cost us and save millions of people if not whole continents of suffering?

Let's see, which is the more equitable in terms of money, lives and good neighboring?  

As Rumsfeld warns us of more obscene photographs to surface, shouldn't we be more offended by the photographs of the devastation of this AIDS epidemic? Perhaps we could even put the left over balance into speeding up the development of hydrogen driven cars and save the planet from the effects of fossil fuel pollution which experts say will soon derail everyone's future when China and India come into full manufacturing swing.

Smart money and sense should kick in here and if our president's ‘God' is truly the mightier and more just God, then let us use the ‘good' sense he gave us.

Greg Metz lives in Dallas and is a long time activist and noted artist.
Photos: The New Yorker, US News.