Page 325 - A Call for a Turkish-Islamic Union

Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar

million soldiers, of which 27 million died at the front lines and
another 25 million civilians lost their lives. This war devastated
tens of countries in an area stretching from the Atlantic to the
Pacific oceans.
For instance, 1.5 million homes in Germany were destroyed,

leaving 7.5 million people homeless. In addition, 6 million homes
were destroyed in the Soviet Union, as well as 1,700 towns and
cities, and 70,000 villages. 45
Between 1990-2000, 56 armed conflicts broke out in 44 dif-
ferent regions of the world.
In short, the last century was an extremely bloody one.

However, these losses increased military investments and in-
flated national defense budgets even further, instead of becoming
a lesson and a cause for peace. The material costs of the twentieth
century's major wars was huge: The First World War cost $2,85
trillion, the Second World War cost $4 trillion, the Korean war

cost $340 billion, the Suez war cost $13 billion, the Vietnam war
cost $720 billion, the Israeli-Arab war cost $21 billion, the Afghan
war of 1979-89 cost $116 billion, and the Iraq-Iran war cost $150
billion. 46
Throughout this century, military budgets have continued to
grow. Reports published in 2002 showed that the world's total
military expenditure had reached $1 trillion. In comparison, 1.2

billion people subsist on an income of under $1 per day, 113 mil-
lion children have no access to education, and every year more
than 11 million children die because of poverty and bad living
conditions. For the same reasons, one in every 48 children is still-
born. 47

America tops the military budget list with an annual $400
billion; a further $45 billion was requested by the Congress for

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