Dubya wants to take democracy to Iraq, as though we have a surplus of it here. Ends up being the perfect tragedy, with 4000 U.S. soldiers dead, estimates of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed, and the current cost placed somewhere in the neighborhood of half a trillion dollars. It's the war stupid!
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You had better increase the amount spent on this war. Read this Editorial:
Commentary: Colossal costs of war in Iraq
San Jose Mercury News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Bush administration scared Congress and the American people into accepting the invasion of Iraq. What's really scary, as the fifth anniversary approaches this month, is the cost.
$3,000,000,000,000. That's 3 trillion dollars -- Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz's estimate of what the war will cost by the time it winds down and troops come home.
Unlike Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Stiglitz doesn't assume that troops may be there for 100 years. And he doesn't count the opportunity costs wasted -- the health care for Americans that could have been provided, the research that could have been funded or the Social Security liability that could have been paid.
He does count up expenses that the Bush administration has minimized or hidden. They add up to one of America's colossal mistakes.
A professor at Columbia University, Stiglitz was the chief economist for the World Bank and, before that, the chief of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. His estimates are in a new book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War." Excerpts are in Vanity Fair (www.vanityfair.com/politics).
He says his figures are conservative. They include $600 billion that Congress has appropriated thus far for the war; $520 billion to bring home troops and equipment within a few years; $590 billion in medical and disability payments to veterans in coming decades; $280 billion to restore a depleted military; $615 billion in interest for a war financed entirely by borrowing; and $370 billion as the war's impact on individuals -- the loss of lifetime earnings by disabled veterans, interruptions in careers for reservists and their families.
Five years ago, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld mocked President Bush's economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, for estimating the war might cost $200 billion. Now, it's 10 times that and growing. A generation of Americans will pay the price for that deceit.
Never let it be said that the American voter cannot be fooled. I suppose we really weren't. In 2000, he lost in the popular vote by 500,000 votes. Go figure.
Thanks for the input. The final toll in Afghanistan and Iraq will be incredible. Our economy will be hurt for years and years to come. The next president will likely be a one termer, having to face all this crap. Or if successful, a national hero. It will be interesting to watch.
Bush and his regressive policies were so appealing when "America wanted to have a beer with him".
Seems like the tabloid media is devoid of true journalism. Big Brother is not only watching but he has polls and demographics and can sell anything to America.
For years I stayed away from the TV especially the tabloid press disquised as news..Now I remember why.
I'm just worried it is all going to be crashing down soon and we might not like how it shakes out in the end you know
I think we are in for trouble. I don't see how we are going to be able to get around it. Way too much spending on a useless war.You can only hope it will not be disastrous. People losing their homes may only be the top of the iceberg.