I may start something here but I'm getting ready to go to work and I caught a cancer statistic on the news.  Instead of working, I did a little research and I just wanted to throw this out there to ponder.

We've lost approximately 3000 U.S. servicemen and women since the start of the war in Iraq.

The numbers vary depending on your source but approximately 2973 people lost their lives in the Twin Towers attack.

Now a disclaimer:  First, I'm all about the troops.  They kick much ass and deserve full support no matter what a person's opinion is about the situation in Iraq.  Second, any death that comes from an unatural cause is horrible, especially when it is instigated from cowardly bastards.

The American Cancer Society reports that about 1500 people in the United States alone are lost every day from cancer-related deaths. So about every 2 days, the U.S. has another 9-11 or another Iraqi war.  Only, it's not as outwardly horrific. 

The National Cancer Institute (the government's primary agency for cancer research) reports that federal funding for cancer research was:

2005:  $4.83 billion

2006:   $4.79 billion

2007:   $4.75 billion (estimate)

To this point, the Iraqi war has cost approximately $357,724,000,000 (based on congressional appropriations).

The American Cancer Society reports that cancer has now overtaken heart disease as the number one killer of Americans under the age of 85.  In monetary terms, it reports in 2005 America spent $209.9 billion in cancer-related costs.

My two points to ponder:

1.  If cancer deaths are the number one killer of Americans, why are we decreasing federal funding for research?  Would we accept 1500 people on American soil dying a day from terrorist attacks?

2.  If we had spent even half of what the Iraqi war has cost on cancer research,  how many lives in this country might have been saved?