Like all things, wars cost money. And when the costs outweigh the benefits, other ways of resolving differences have to be found.
Last weekend, I read an article about the recent Israel/Gaza conflict that said each missile lobbed into Israel by Hamas cost about $1000 to purchase. But by the time all the bribes and payoffs have been made to get them into the Gaza Strip, their final cost is a significant multiple of that.
Taking into account the number of these rockets brought down before reaching their targets by the “Iron Dome” defense system, it’s calculated that Hamas spent over $1 Million for each Israeli killed. And with new software developed during the eight day barrage, any future conflict will raise that cost to between $5 and $10 Million per casualty.
Begging the questions, “Why bother?” and “Maybe that money could be put to better use”.
One of the favorite weapons of the world’s armies is the landmine. They are cheap, costing between $3 and $30 apiece. Any idiot can plant one. And at an estimated cost of $1200 to find and remove each one of them, most armies just leave them where they are when they leave the field.
At this moment, there are approximately 110 Million active landmines planted around the world, continuing to kill 3-4000 people every year, many of them generations after the conflict in which they were used ended.
Most of the casualties are children.
But if it was as cheap and easy to remove a landmine as it is to lay it in the ground, like the Hamas missiles, they would soon cease to be worth using.
Maybe it’s too much to hope that people might then resort to talking out their differences instead. But at least a lot of innocent people wouldn’t have to suffer or die.
Today’s Good News Week entry from the Focus/Forward Short Film Competition exhibits an inspired solution to one weapon of war. It gives you hope that the answers to all the others might be just as easy to find –- if we put our minds to it.
Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
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