Check my work:

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 12/13/2002 at 5:56:50 PM EST is 288,692,828

According to a recent report by www.medact.org, the costs of a war in Iraq could range from $600 billion -$1.6 trillion . The number of lives lost (mostly Iraqi) could range from 250,000-500,000.

I. If we assume the purpose of war is to kill people, then we want to maximize the number of lives lost while keeping costs (taxes) down.

I.I Therefore, a positive estimate posits 500,000 lives lost at cost of $600,000,000,000.
That's $1,200,000 per casualty.
Which costs $2078 per American.
One Iraqi dead for every 577 Americans.

I.II A negative estimate posits 250,000 lives lost at a cost of $1,600,000,000,000.
That's $6,400,000 per casualty.
Which costs $5542 per American.
One Iraqi dead for every 1155 Americans.

II. If war serves some purpose other than killing, then we want to reduce the number of lives lost while keeping costs (taxes) down, all within the framework of successfully ensuring Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction/successfully ensuring Iraq does not have ties to Al Quaeda/successfully ensuring that Saddam Hussein does not use chemical weapons against his own people/successfully colonizing the region to further Bush and his handlers' domination of global oil interests.

II.I A positive estimate posits 250,000 lives lost at a cost of $600,000,000,000.
That's $2,400,000 per casualty.
Which costs $2078 per American.
One Iraqi dead for every 1155 Americans.

II.II A negative estimate posits 500,000 lives lost at a cost of $1,600,000,000,000.
That's $3,200,000 per casualty.
Which costs $5542 per American.
One Iraqi dead for each 577 Americans.

Therefore, the most positive of all projected outcomes would have you pay $2078 in tax, in exchange for which you get one thousandth of a Iraqi citizen, probably a civilian killed by explosives.

And maybe, just maybe, you will sleep more soundly.