THE COST OF THE IRAQ WAR

For quite a while now, the economy has been the #1 issue among voters, followed closely by the Iraq War. However it's hard to see how these two aren't directly related to each other, unless you're a Republican. After all, we've spent nearly 600 billion dollars so far on our little "democracy experiment", and some speculate that the entire bill could eventually add up to 3 trillion (yes, trillion) dollars.

This makes all the bullshit rhetoric about "threats" and "minimal costs" from the Bush Administration in the lead-up to this catastrophe all the more maddening. I mean how do you screw up the rationale for the war AND the estimated costs at the same time?! As it turns out, these guys didn't want to hear ANYTHING about reality when it came to hatching this national joke of a military exercise. In fact, Bush's own chief economic adviser was fired in December 2002 after he dared to estimate the potential cost at $100-$200 billion dollars. Donald Rumsfeld called that number "baloney", and he and his cronies floated amounts like $50-$60 billion to make people feel all "warm and fuzzy" about an invasion of Iraq.

Amazingly, one of the few people to get a guess even close to the ballpark was Yale Economics professor William Nordhaus. Here's a fascinating interview with Nordhaus done just days before the Iraq War began in 2003, in which he warns of the possibility of three-dollar a gallon gas (we wish) and $75 dollar-a-barrel oil. FYI... oil reached a high of 147.27 a barrel just three weeks ago.

If you watched the video, you might have also noticed one Donald Kagan (he of the cross-eyed persuasion) giving his unbridled support for military action. In fact, he even goes so far to accuse Nordhaus of "partisan economics" in warning of a costly war. A quick Wikipedia search reveals Mr. Kagan as one of the godfathers of the Neoconservative movement and a proud member of the now infamous Project for the New American Century. By the way Don, how's that "project" coming along anyway?

In closing, here's an interesting video that details the monetary cost of the Iraq War. It's interesting to note that in this day and age when Oil Companies are profiting to the tune of $1,500 per second - - the Iraq War is also costing the American Taxpayer some $8,333 per second.

Just think of that the next time McCain promises to stay in Iraq "until the job is done"... or whatever that means. Oh yeah, and just how does he plan on paying for his never ending war? Ah yes, permanent tax cuts. Mmmm... this Kool Aid tastes delicious!