Iraq War Dénouement: Curiouser & Curiouser
Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice! — From “Alice in Wonderlandâ€
The House has approved a second Iraq war-funding bill that President Bush has vowed to veto.
Let’s put this latest development into perspective:
The president violated a fundamental law of economics in lowering taxes while commencing to fight a major war, which happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and has taken many tens of thousands of lives. The bill for that war, which is now widely viewed as a catastrophe that has done inestimable damage to the War on Terror, is closing in on $400 billion. Much of that money has been funded outside the normal budget stream, which has enabled the White House to issue rosy but false budget forecasts while bleating that the troops will be left bereft and barefoot if funding dries up. The drumbeat for a U.S. troop withdrawal in Iraq among Iraqis is deafening and undercuts the administration’s entire premise for staying there. A majority of Americans also want the U.S. out of Iraq post haste, having so noted that in a dust-up called the mid-term election. The president vetoed the first war-funding bill although it established a reasonable timetable for a withdrawal. After a come-to-Jesus meeting with Republican moderates, he has reluctantly agreed to buy back into the concept of benchmarks for the Iraqi government although they are all but unattainable this late in the game. The second bill provides funding without the timetable that the president so vehemently protested, but he will veto it anyway.
Got that?
6 Responses to “Iraq War Dénouement: Curiouser & Curiouser”
[...] future in Senate CNN Democrats cut off Iraq war funds Guardian Unlimited Congressional Quarterly - The Moderate Voice - Bloomberg - Telegraph.co.uk all 2,130 news [...]
I wonder if you can put a figure on “much of that money.” I don’t think it’s as high as commonly presumed.
It should be obvious to everyone now that our folly in the “nation” of “Iraq” will begin winding down this fall or, more likely, early next spring. We need to move carefully and deliberately to contain the many negative effects of the Bush’s failed policy and its implementation. To that end, I submit this
Ok, the link didn’t come through:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/12602/brookings.html
Thanks for the Sir John Tenniel illustration!
400 Billion doesn’t begin to cover the costs to date, just the cost that have been authorized.
DOD estimates the cost of just replacing equipment destroyed in this war will be between 400 and 600 billion. Add to that the lifetime disability pensions and healthcare for over 25,000 injured not to mention the interest that will have to be paid since all of this is being done on borrowed money.
Some economists have said a conservative figure for the final cost is around 2 trillion dollars.
And that study is from 2005/06. We’re still racking up the debt.
Davebo:
Thank you.
The negative aspects of war is one instance where the “trickle down” theory of economics works perversely well. Take a single 20-year-old GI with a massive neurological injury and add up the costs of his treatment, rehab, impact on family and so on for a lifespan of, say, 60 years. Now multiply that by 10,000. And that’s just a start.