Yet, the war goes on --- Jim Hightower

[SHRED]

Asked in January 2003 what the price tag was for the Bushites' upcoming Iraq attack and occupation, Donny Rumsfeld said that the budget office forecast "a number that's something under $50 billion."

Not quite right. Iraq is now costing us $6 billion a month (the surge will be extra), and total direct costs through this year will top $500 billion. Included in that is $12 billion that was airlifted in 2003 to the interim Iraqi government in shrinkwrapped stacks of $100 bills (the load weighed 363 tons) and promptly disappeared. Poof...gone!

Add in such indirect costs as veterans' long-term health care and replacement of the military hardware consumed by the war, and the tab runs to $1.2 trillion or more. David Leonhardt, a New York Times economic analyst, has itemized some other things we could've bought with that sum instead of the mess in Iraq. His list includes:

<*>* TEN YEARS of universal health care, covering every American who is now without it.
<*> * DOUBLING the cancer research budget.
<*> * GLOBAL IMMUNIZATION of the world's children against measles, whooping cough, tetanus, TB, polio, and diptheria.
<*> * UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL for every 3- and 4-year-old child in America.
<*> * RECONSTRUCTION of New Orleans.
<*> * IMPLEMENTATION of all of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.


Yet, the war goes on

ARTICLE:
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/52290/?page=1


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Jim Hightower telling it like it is.

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[Redstone]

1. Jim Hightower telling it like it is, like he ALWAYS does. Why can't we have HIM for President?

He and his pal the late lamented Molly are true American Treasures.

Redstone

[SHRED]

2. agreed!

[Flatulo]

3. Have you ever seen a government program finish on budget?

The Big Dig here in Boston was originally slated to be completed for under $1 billion. The price tag has long passed $16 billion.

[Flatulo]

4. I just remembered - the Hoover Dam was finished ahead of schedule and under budget.

[SharonAnn]

5. Yes, there have been many. Of course, Halliburton didn't run them and there was close oversight.

During WWII, Truman was in charge of oversight of defense suppliers to ensure that there was no war-profiteering going on. Where's the equivalent today?

When companies like SAIC, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Accenture, Grumman, etc. have huge cost overruns and failed projects, when implementing these projects is supposed to be their expertise, you have to wonder why?

So, "who benefits"? They still get paid. Taxpayers still do the paying. So, we need to short-circuit that process.

[Flatulo]

6. Well, that's what happens when the fox is watching the henhouse...