President Barack Obama works on his statement concerning the situation in Libya with, from left, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes, in Brasilia, Brazil, March 19, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

According to the Pentagon, in just this first week of our war “kinetic military action” in Libya, the military has already spent $550 million. From Politico:

The Pentagon says it has spent $550 million on U.S. military operations in Libya since efforts to protect civilians from Muammar Qadhafi’s regime began 10 days ago. Details of expenditures on the Libya mission show the Defense Department spending more than 60 percent of the $550 million on bombs and missiles, Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Cmdr. Kathleen Kesler told POLITICO. The rest of the costs, she said, “are for higher operating tempo of U.S. forces and deployment costs.”

Instead of going to war with acting in a kinetic military manner toward Libya, we could have spent that money on many great things here at home. For example, we could have:

  • Provided private health insurance this year for over 42,000 families;
  • Provided 17,000 Americans with jobs;
  • Fully paid for about 10,000 students to attend four years at a public university;
  • Paid off the state of Oklahoma’s projected 2012 budget short fall.

Of course, President Obama decided that it was far more important to spend this money on military actions against a country that even he acknowledged wasn’t a direct threat to our safety.