[MicroHydro]

The real cost of the Iraqis war

The real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion (£1.1 trillion), up to 10 times more than previously thought, according to a report written by a Nobel prize-winning economist and a Harvard budget expert.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0, ... 19,00.html

That is ok, Bush put it on plastic, and has no intention of ever paying the bill.

[savethehumans]

This was part of a story posted at truthout.org on Saturday. Chilling in its predictions--and the source of them:

So, there is quite a leap for people who hear nothing but lies every day to make if they are going to see the war itself as a crime, and therefore every killing by the aggressor, the United States, as a murder.

But the line of thinking that allows that conclusion has long had currency in the United States as well. Our grandparents' generation played a large role in creating it for the world. And George W's father explained his decision not to invade Baghdad during the Gulf War in these terms:

Trying to eliminate Saddam .. would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq...there was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.

You KNOW it's gotten bad when you start quoting George The Elder as a wise statesman!