In the comments to a post below, Ron made an interesting observation that enriching Iraqis is the key to increasing stability in Iraq, rather than enriching Americans. That got me thinking.

We're spending 5.9 billion dollars a month in Iraq, or $70.8 billion a year. There are roughly 4.2 million households in Iraq, with a median annual income of about $255 (see UN study here).

$70.8 billion divided by 4.2 million is $16,857.

Just sayin'.

(EDIT 10/10: I might have been a bit too coy. My point was not that "we're already spending a ton on Iraq," it was "what's more conducive to stability -- spending the equivalent of a lifetime's wage per Iraqi household on a massive military occupation, or getting that money directly to the Iraqi people, perhaps in the form of wages for reconstruction projects, or even more directly in the form of war reparations." Poverty causes instability.)