For all of the controversy surrounding the so-called Big Dig in Boston, with its mismanagement, shoddy work, corruption and waste, the total bill is about $14 billion. America’s presence in Iraq is now costing the United States $12 billion each and every month. And what, exactly, do we have to show for it, besides 4,000 dead Americans and record high gas prices?
6 thoughts on “Iraq: A Big Dig in Dollars Every Month”
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We already have all the proof we need to know where staying the course will take us. If Hillary hijacks the nomination I won’t be happy, but I won’t vote McCain in November!
Geez! If McCain is elected, emigration sounds like a good idea. I’m hoping Hillary and Barack quit all this infighting because if these stupid pseudo-Democrats who claim they’ll vote for McCain because their favorite lost the nomination do exactly that, they should realize we’ll lose the whole damn country! It’s a mess now-we don’t need another Repub!
What part of what’s happened since 9/11 hasn’t been to Osama bin Laden’s liking? His near capture at Tora Bora and, more recently, the U.S. buying the allegiance of Sunni leaders in Iraq, who weren’t happy about the influence of al Qaida anyway. Other than that, I assume he’s happy with how things are going.
Al Qaida wasn’t in Iraq, of course, before we invaded. For that matter, is there even a direct link between al Qaida in Iraq and Osama? Saddam was a bad guy, but Osama didn’t like him either, and Hussein’s removal gave Iran the opening it was looking for. What a mess. And McCain thinks it’s “winnable”? Somebody please define winning in terms other than “stable and self-sustaining.”
I believe that the Surge has been the least reason for the reduction of violence in Iraq. There’s no way that an increase of only 20-30,000 troops could have had that big an influence. It’s al-Sadr declaring a truce on the Shiia side, and the Sunni warlords being bought off. The recent UPSURGE in violence is proof that the total chaos of a year ago could come back at any time.
I always laugh, when I hear the old charge by Republicans that the Democrats are the party of “tax and spend” fiscal irresponsibility with the government’s budget. The cost of social programs don’t come anywhere near the money the more hawkish Republicans willingly shell out for the military and war.
There’s more than one way for an opponent to win a war!! Need we look any further than the Soviet Union’s budget? They engaged in a space race which they really couldn’t afford, military armament (“just in case”) which they really couldn’t afford, and a war in Afghanistan which had major negative repercussions on their budget. The USSR got worn down and played out.
The same could happen to us, as this costly war in Iraq drags on, while we continue wrestling with the Afghanistan situation. I heard on CNBC today that we may see $4 a gallon for gasoline by Memorial Day. Military tanks, jets, etc. run on OIL, – at $108 a barrel today – not solar power. The U.S. dollar is weak. Wall Street is in upheaval. Mortgage foreclosures are common, the lenders are in trouble, and Citigroup’s stock, for example, has fallen to the low $20’s, from the mid $50’s it was last year. More and more economists have dropped the “if” out of whether we are now experiencing a true recession.
There are limits to anyone’s power and wealth, even the United States. And ironically, while trying to “protect” America from violent fundamentalist extremists, we could end up weaker and more vulnerable while we persist along our current path in Iraq. Terrorists can just sit back, without actually pulling off another attack in America, and watch us spiral downwards into exhaustion, all by ourselves. That’s a classic tactic to enable the underdog to win!
Monte, you’ve articulated why I hope John McCain isn’t the next President. He really believes that Vietnam could have been “won,” and he seems determined to live out that fantasy in Iraq, no matter how long it takes.
It’s amazing that one generation after Vietman, we’d have the same situation all over again. And what’s more amazing are those who still argue that had we “stayed the course,” we could have won in Vietnam. Won? Vietnam is now a member of the WTO and US citizens visit there all the time. Had we “won,” Vietnam would be two countries! We could not have unified it unless we invaded the North, which might very likely have brought China into the war, as it did in Korea. Moreover, even had we not invaded the North, to win would have meant that by now, that memorial in DC would be at least a third bigger! How many names are there going to be on the Iraq memorial one day? It’s just insane.