Just send me the bill...

[dgridley]

Before the war, then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels predicted Iraq would be "an affordable endeavor" and rejected an estimate by then-White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey of total war costs at 100 to 200 billion dollars as "very, very high."

Iraq war costs could top 2 trillion U.S. dollars: study

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/11/content_4035795.htm

 

[smub]

cool research dgridely ...

its interesting

 

[Rainbow]

Very informative! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Andromeda]

2 trillion dollars... whoa that's huge.. !

 

[HHDomains]

You sure as hell could buy a lot of real national security with 2 trillion dollars.
It must be comforting to know that the money is going to improving the lives of the Iraqi people without any benefit to the American people.

 

[spy69]

Yep. I seen a website not too long ago stating how that money couldve bought housing for the homeless, provide better funding for public education, world hunger, etc.


Spy

 

[dgridley]

Exactly the point of my post...

Yep. I seen a website not too long ago stating how that money couldve bought housing for the homeless, provide better funding for public education, world hunger, etc.


Spy

 

[Fewski]

No matter how much money, it is better than having another tragic event like Sept. 11.

Like Bush or not.

 

[armstrong]

No matter how much money, it is better than having another tragic event like Sept. 11.

Like Bush or not.

"No matter how much" is too much. What if the bill goes to 1,000 trillion? :bah:

If you spent all that money on rehabilitating America's homeless, funding medical education, AIDS research, or improving urban police capability - how many lives could it have saved?

That said, I don't believe the 2 trillion figure. A lot of that isn't cash, but intangibles like "lost productivity", which couldn't be saved or spent elsewhere.

 

[ThreeD]

very informative, thanks dgridley. Makes you wonder if that money couldn't have been spent for a better cause though - to benefit the US general society, or the hurrican victims in the south.

 

[dgridley]

Agreed, but it does take into account future expenditures for rehabilitation of the wounded, etc down the road..

A lot of that isn't cash, but intangibles like "lost productivity", which couldn't be saved or spent elsewhere.

 

[HHDomains]

No matter how much money, it is better than having another tragic event like Sept. 11.

Like Bush or not.

Dead is dead. Period.

Regardless of whether people are dying because of a terrorist attack or because of inadequate health care or housing, at the end of the day they are just as dead.

The war in Iraq is an absurd waste of money that could have been spent actually helping and protecting people.

 

[Zeeble]

Armstrong, it maybe intangibles, but lost productivity is still lost money...

From what I have heard (do correct me if I wrong), the total cost to the USA of the Iraq war has already exceeded $500billion. Just think how much 3rd world debt could have been canceled if it hadn't have been for the useless war.

I firmly believe that the majority of Iraqi people do not want democracy. They live in a totally different society and culture to us, and don't even understand democracy, they don't need or want it.

 

[dgridley]

I agree with you here... I think if they'd wanted democracy, Saddam would've been dealing with insurgents, instead of us.

I firmly believe that the majority of Iraqi people do not want democracy. They live in a totally different society and culture to us, and don't even understand democracy, they don't need or want it.

 

[HHDomains]

I firmly believe that the majority of Iraqi people do not want democracy. They live in a totally different society and culture to us, and don't even understand democracy, they don't need or want it.

We need to differentiate between a democracy and personal freedoms.
In order to have a free and prosperous society a democracy is not a mandatory component.

Democracy, as it is in the West, will never be known in the Middle East because they have centuries of tradition and customs that don't allow for it.
Never in history has a country been freed or "democratized" by an occupying force and it will not happen in this case.
All real social change throughout history has happened from within. Public unrest and revolt, ie Spain in the 1970s, are the methods of overturning dictatorships.

 

[dgridley]

You hit the nail on the head...

Public unrest and revolt, ie Spain in the 1970s, are the methods of overturning dictatorships.

 

[photoshopfreak]

You wouldn't believe the amount of suffering that happens in the USA just like anywhere else in this world, there are homeless, ill, poor, uneducated people that could do with that kind of money spending on them. I'm not saying Iraq was a bad thing but if America can afford this war then why can't it help it's own people who need it?

Think of the money the USA does have apart from the money spent on the war...

 

[dgridley]

Believe me.. I've been there.. I've been homeless and out on the streets.. so I know what it's like.. I was born into a well-off family so I know what that's like too.

My feeling is America has a responsibility to take care of it's own first.. I don't have and can't afford medical insurance and don't quality for medicaid.. how fair is that when I see billions (no, trillions) spent overseas?

You wouldn't believe the amount of suffering that happens in the USA just like anywhere else in this world, there are homeless, ill, poor, uneducated people that could do with that kind of money spending on them. I'm not saying Iraq was a bad thing but if America can afford this war then why can't it help it's own people who need it?

 

[charbar]

.....good post,as ever....thanks....

 

[Fewski]

Not trying to be harsh, but everytime I see someone on the streets that is homeless, they are begging for money - Not trying to get a job, they're begging when they could get a job.

My feeling is America has a responsibility to take care of it's own first..

I agree. But when a country says they have a Nuclear bomb and is threatening the USA, what do you think would happen?? Just think nothing of it?

Yes, I know... They didn't find a Nuclear bomb (But I believe they found materials to make it).