The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, has issued a final report to Congress, and it concludes that we wasted our time and money in Iraq. It looks like we spent an average of about $80 billion a year in Iraq, but don’t forget about the cost of caring for all our veterans.
Overall, including all military and diplomatic costs and other aid, the U.S. has spent at least $767 billion since the American-led invasion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. National Priorities Project, a U.S. research group that analyzes federal data, estimated the cost at $811 billion, noting that some funds are still being spent on ongoing projects.
Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate committee that oversees U.S. funding, said the Bush administration should have agreed to give the reconstruction money to Iraq as a loan in 2003 instead as an outright gift.
You know, we might have made an entirely different case for taking out Saddam Hussein than we did. But we said that he had weapons of mass destruction and was about six seconds away from detonating a nuclear device in Times Square. So, when it turned out that our government was totally full of shit, we could have handed Saddam a check for $767 billion, or $811 billion, and just said “bygones.” That wouldn’t have been politically popular or even particularly smart from an imperial point of view, but it actually would have wound up being cheaper and it would have saved the lives of thousands of Americans who died for no good reason, and possibly tens of thousands of Iraqis who also died for no good reason. Saddam certainly did not deserve the money, but it wouldn’t have been any stupider than invading his country in the first place, or staying there for almost a decade presiding over one of the worst examples of graft ever produced in world history.
Or, you know, we could have followed Susan Collins’ advice and put everything on the Iraqi credit card.
Speaking of oil, given Chavez’s death and Iraq being in our minds…
US SCIENTISTS REPORT BIG JUMP IN HEAT-TRAPPING CO2
Meanwhile, Senator Inhofe is currently on the Senate floor bitching about how little oil and gas we are drilling for on federal land.
Funny thing, the President agrees with him according to the President’s own actions.
Oh, yes, you are right, Calvin. The president agrees that his policies suck.
We’re drilling more than ever. He’ll probably approve the Keystone Pipeline(I’ll be truly shocked if he doesn’t). Is the Gulf considered federal land? Don’t companies have to get permission to drill there?
Yea right, we’ve come in and caused a lot of deaths, a lot of damage, but we’ll loan you some big bucks. Sounds like a great deal. Some folks are just so smart. Collins and her former coleague Snowe are the great pretenders.
Yep, I decided a couple of years ago that the two of them were not moderates;they were pretend moderates. And having a backbone was never in their genetic make up either. But then, I honestly cannot think of a single Republican Senator with a backbone? None of them has ever had the cojones to stand up to the regressive stances of the party and its leadership.
Or maybe we could have arranged a reverse mortgage on the whole country.
That was the idea — but like all those liar’s loan, they forgot to figure out how to collect it.
Wait, I thought one of the sweeten the pot promises Wolfowitz made was that Iraqi oil WOULD pay for this. You mean they screwed that up too???
Do you remember his testimony before Congress? If you want to be pissed off all over again, I recommend reading it.
Only those that found his assertion ludicrous in real time were infuriated then and now. This should be shoved in the faces of every Congresscritter that supported the war and today screams about debt. What a bunch of incompetent boobs.
I enjoy agreeing with you!
We usually do. It’s just conflicting personal pet peeves that on occasion get in the way.
if you wanna be pissed all over again:
— ABC Nightline “Project Iraq”, 4/23/03
Don’t recall Ms. Collins making that suggestion in 2002-2003 before “shock and awe.” I only recall the doofuses in Congress not challenging Wolfowitz when he claimed that it would only cost $20 billion and would be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues.
As someone that doesn’t know the first thing about military actions but a bit about the cost of things, I knew enough to laugh and cry at that $20 billion estimate. My first estimate was $100 billion, increased that to $160 billion two months into the invasion/occupation if we got out within a year. By July 2003 when it was clear that Bush didn’t have an exit strategy, we up to $300 billion and counting.
Stiglitz and Bilmes have done the best job in capturing the true cost,
But even they now admit that $3 trillion figure is too low. Imagine what we could have had instead for that $4 trillion dollars. Keep imagining because we never, ever, throw big dollars in search of big solutions unless it has a military application.
Just one damned parade with the rose petals thing. Is that all that much to ask? Just one fricking parade in Baghdad!
Question is, which fish are going to volunteer to climb in that barrel?
The disposition of $1 million of those hundreds of billions has been discovered. Naturally it was a “bad apple” and her officer cohort. So, she’ll be doing time.
Now there’s a clever plan for spreading freeance and peeance: blow shit up and then loan people money to rebuild it! FREEDOM!
If anyone has read through my series of 6 diaries in recent days, you were already aware of the Iraq catastrophe in the making [plus great BBC documentary]. The number of Iraqi deaths stood at 150,000 with some estimates double or triple that number.
The Saudis reckoned no discussion with the Bush cabal was possible, so their venture is to complete the neocon plan for the Middle East. Born out of necessity because the Iranian led Shiites had gained power in Iraq, the Saudis led the overthrow of Syria’s influence in Lebanon from 2005 on. Hariri was sacrificed (killed by Jundl al-Sham jihadists) and the neocon dream to overthrow Assad is near completion. In the press conference of John Kerry, he has converged on the Sunni doctrine for Syria and put diplomacy on the back burner. The Saudi FM said clearly to all who understands Salafist belief: “It’s our duty to help our brethren in Syria.” By definition that means the Salafist Al-Nusra Front and will exclude Shiites, Alawites and Orthodox Christians – see recent developments in Libya.
So WTFU!
Talking about the Iraq echec when a greater human catastrophe is in the making on Obama’s watch. The human toll stands ar 70,000 and will continue towards 150,000. Number of UN counted refugees is above 1 million. No end in sight! The war on Syria is part of neo-colonialism by western powers, Europe and the US. However, the battle is not in Bosnia but in the Middle East and the Islamic nations will determine its outcome.
Obama and Kerry effigies were burned in Cairo, Egypt last week by the liberal, secular protest movement for the US support of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi.