$12 BILLION a month.....!!!!!

[xzxzimxzx]

Did anyone read this today.....?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_costs

  This is absolutely ludicrous! 

Can you imagine what just a fraction of that money could do for the people of this country?

[MrClean61]

xzxzimxzx,

Do you honestly believe that this money would go toward doing any good for the people of this country?

Have you been to the gas pump lately? How about the purity of your drinking water? Maybe checked out the bill for your income tax? Seen people living in the streets? Paid a health care bill?

That money would have made a wonderful pocket liner for some politicians!!!

 

[tnfarmer]

The question presented by xzxzimxzx was "

Can you imagine what just a fraction of that money could do for the people of this country?

The emphasis is on the "could do". And while all the issues identified by MrClean61 are real, this amount of money could correct the vast majority of them! I think this was the point trying to be made.

[MrClean61]

tnfarmer,

Thanks for the correction. I apologize for my feable attempt to redirect the emphasis of the post. I should have known better than to attempt to point out the reality behind the situation. Please forgive my indiscretion and for trying to point out that while the money "could" do so much to correct the failings of our society, that even if we had the money, it would not go to that effort. Oooopppssss there I go again.

 

[tnfarmer]

No problem with pointing out that in all likelihood it wouldn't be used for good (I actually agree with you on that point). But the potential for doing good should not be belittled either. We can always hope. 

[FoulBreeze]

$12 Billion / month; most of it borrowed from China, Japan, and yes our great friends and fellow Crawford Texas family blood line Saudi Arabians. And, McCain vows to keep the degredation of our Dollar going, for we've yet to fulfill our end of the bargain with Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco, Shell, & BP--providing a safe haven for their engineers to work in, over in the former Nation of Iraq. Sad thing is, that less than 2% of our country's population believes that we'll personally see any reduction in pump prices, should US big Oil succeed in their thievery. Back on the 17th of July, 2007, at ~4:52pm EST, before the Senate's Levin-Reed overnight debate; one Senator John McCain (R-AZ), stated that we're still there, because of the Oil.

-4,000 brave American warriors, and -655,000 innocent men, women, and children later; we now enter the 5th year of occupation, with a broken dollar, a stretched military, a massive energy crisis, and a wrecked housing market. Why would ANY candidate vow to move us further into a 3rd World economy? What would $12 billion a month do for us back here in the lower 48, in building a Green Industrial economy and alternative modes of transportation?

[Abracadabra]

Did anyone read this today.....?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_costs

  This is absolutely ludicrous! 

Can you imagine what just a fraction of that money could do for the people of this country?

The cost of the war is what? $2 trillion over 15 years or so? Meanwhile, the US GDP will be roughly $13 Trillion per year, so $195 Trillion. Being generous, that puts the cost of the war at roughly 1.5% of GDP over 15 years. Compare that to what the US spent post-WWII...144% of GDP.

The questions should center on should we have gone to war? Compare some of the actual cost resulting from going to war and the alternative cost of not going to war.

 Saddam himself said that once the 14 something UN resolutions were lifted that he would have actively pursued WMDs again.

He made us believe he had the weapons (he admitted this), would re-start his WMD program (he admitted this, and we're still second guessing that Saddam was a threat.

The cost of containing Saddam Hussein. Keeping a big force in the region—big enough to cow the dictator into letting weapons inspectors do their job—would not have been cheap, although with hindsight the strategy looks like a bargain.

 The world now knows for sure that Saddam will never lay his hands on weapons of mass destruction. That knowledge may not be worth $3 trillion, but it is surely worth something.

In WWII, we had to fight in Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Southern Europe, and even in Africa, to take out the governments of multiple countries to rid Europe of the fascists and Nazis.

Now we've have to fight on multiple fronts against Islamic fascism and fascism in America! God help our children and grandchildern, etc..
 

[vegas]

LOOK AT THE MONEY THAT  COULD HAVE BEEN PUT IN HEALTH CARE AND FOR THE US

[grantpk]

Right on!  Health care is a very important issue to me in the coming elections.

Comparison of cost of WW2 to our invasion of Iraq is meaningless, IMO. Most people agree that WW2 was unavoidable while the Iraq war is totally unnecessary.

[TLC1ST]

Iraq has one thing in common with WW2.It has to be Won! For the people of the United States safety and the People of Iraq. I'll go beyond that,for the safety of the world and world peace!

[Parnelli]

Blah blah blah, nationalized health care. Blah blah blah, tax the Gas Company profits because they're making too much, blah blah blah, redistribute wealth.

Can someone please reference Marx, Lenin, Socialism while we're at it? Let's just change the USA to the USSA (United SOCIALIST States of America) while we're at it. Ask Russia how well Socialism worked for them. You might also want to ask Canadiens how well their Nationalized Health care is working. Yea, I thought so. Hum, truth hurts, doesn't it?


More DEMONcratic liberal left rhetoric.

[bigdaveray]

I will leave it to wiser heads than me to decide if we should have invaded Iraq or not. However as a career military man I know the occupation was screwed up. I read General Tommy Franks` book " An American Soldier". He was convinced he could win the war and have everybody home quick. That is what the  administration believed, they refused to listen to the Joint Chiefs Of Staff about the need for more resources. They believed what they wanted. Concurrently they didn`t plan to secure the ammo dumps, get the infra structure up and running or adequate police protection for the population. This gave the insurgents plenty of time to secure the ammo they needed and take advantage of the chaos in the country.Now we have war with no end in sight. President Bush`s man on the scene said the first priority was to get tax breaks for the Iraqie Small Business Man. There were non of these to speak of to give a break,. They were convinced that businessmen would jump in a solve all the domestic problems there, it didn`t happen. SO the decision to invade or not invade is not some thing I cannot for sure say yes or no. I can say the plan was a bad one and it got is into a problem that the American People didn`t want to deal with. This will cost the conservatives their domestic agenda. Now they are going to have a left leaning congress and president in the comming years in charge of this country. They are going to see the government put control on business, tax increases and some social changes they didn`t count on.  They can thank Bush for all of it. He didn`t think before he jumped.

[TLC1ST]

I personally think He should have called me and asked my opinion before all this happened,but he didn't.I am an old Military man myself and they never do it the way I want it done.I think they should be dealt with swiftly,efficiently,and permanently.I do not like having to go back and do it over!

[Abracadabra]

I will leave it to wiser heads than me to decide if we should have invaded Iraq or not. However as a career military man I know the occupation was screwed up. I read General Tommy Franks` book " An American Soldier". He was convinced he could win the war and have everybody home quick. That is what the  administration believed, they refused to listen to the Joint Chiefs Of Staff about the need for more resources. They believed what they wanted. Concurrently they didn`t plan to secure the ammo dumps, get the infra structure up and running or adequate police protection for the population. This gave the insurgents plenty of time to secure the ammo they needed and take advantage of the chaos in the country.Now we have war with no end in sight. President Bush`s man on the scene said the first priority was to get tax breaks for the Iraqie Small Business Man. There were non of these to speak of to give a break,. They were convinced that businessmen would jump in a solve all the domestic problems there, it didn`t happen. SO the decision to invade or not invade is not some thing I cannot for sure say yes or no. I can say the plan was a bad one and it got is into a problem that the American People didn`t want to deal with. This will cost the conservatives their domestic agenda. Now they are going to have a left leaning congress and president in the comming years in charge of this country. They are going to see the government put control on business, tax increases and some social changes they didn`t count on.  They can thank Bush for all of it. He didn`t think before he jumped.

”Occupation My A**”“ We neither hold nor control any part of Iraq, or it's policies, had we, it would have been over several years ago, that is if the liberal/socialists would support the Military as they claim to do! "Occupation" the act or process of taking possession of a place or area : the holding and control of an area by a foreign military force: the military force occupying a country or the policies carried out by it

 As a career (27 years active duty) military (US Army) man, I was taught by the military, when come to the enemy you expect the un-expected, ALWAYS! Come to think of it, that applies to my daily life!

War's fundamental unpredictability means  that strategy is a full-time, ongoing job that never ends. The effective strategist makes plans, but does not delude himself that they will unfold as intended. He constantly envisions what's desirable, pursues - and protects against - what's possible, acts on what's probable, and constantly adjusts for what actually happens.

Why are military events, in particular, so unpredictable? It is because the events of war are driven by the strange interaction of three completely different kinds of forces. 

The first is the rational calculations of the opposing leaders. Given that they actively seek to frustrate and fool one another, it should not surprise us that they routinely succeed in derailing each other's visions of the future.

The second force is the gut emotions of leaders and the populations they try to control. Hatred makes people do things not remotely in their own predictable 'best interests', as understood by any rational standard.

And a third source of unpredictability is sheer chance: does it rain the night before your great offensive is to begin - and did you know that your new artillery fuzes don't function well when they land in mud?   The events in a war are always a SURPRISE!

[TLC1ST]

Well said.