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Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study

calamity

calamity

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Thanks, George. The war to nowhere has cost us $2 Trillion and will probably cost us several more before all is said and done. And people wonder why the economy tanked, the deficit is so high and then they blame Obama for the fact that we have no money now.

(Reuters) -The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.
Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study | Reuters
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That $6 Trillion could have bought us lots of bike paths, solar panels and high speed rail lines. But, no. Bush and his supporters had to start a war with a country that never did us any harm.


Dolts.
 
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So where did the other almost $8 trillion in debt come from? 'Cause that's the additional debt accrued since 2000, unrelated to the Iraq figure. If the total Iraq war cost (extended over 4 decades) could have bought us a lot of **** the fed shouldn't spend money on (bike paths? seriously? the federal government needs to pay for these why??), imagine was the $8 trillion that's ALREADY BEEN LOST could have bought us.

Since 2000, we've spent almost $3 trillion a year. That's almost $39 trillion. So you're lamenting what we did w/5% of that money. Just to put it into perspective.
 
tessaesque said:
So where did the other almost $8 trillion in debt come from? 'Cause that's the additional debt accrued since 2000, unrelated to the Iraq figure. If the total Iraq war cost (extended over 4 decades) could have bought us a lot of **** the fed shouldn't spend money on (bike paths? seriously? the federal government needs to pay for these why??), imagine was the $8 trillion that's ALREADY BEEN LOST could have bought us.

Since 2000, we've spent almost $3 trillion a year. That's almost $39 trillion. So you're lamenting what we did w/5% of that money. Just to put it into perspective.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are under-counting the other spending. Because they are applying future obligations to that number. So, for example, Medicare this year didn't cost what we spent - but it cost what we spent plus the increase to our unfunded liability.


If liberals want to start applying Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to government programs to determine total cost, count me in :). Though I think they may not like the results....
 
calamity said:
Thanks, George. The war to nowhere has cost us $2 Trillion and will probably cost us several more before all is said and done. And people wonder why the economy tanked, the deficit is so high and then they blame Obama for the fact that we have no money now.


That $6 Trillion could have bought us lots of bike paths, solar panels and high speed rail lines. But, no. Bush and his supporters had to start a war with a country that never did us any harm.


Dolts.
Click to expand...

When you come here and recite this left wing talk radio BS you are going to get nailed to the wall with facts and figures. Maybe you'll learn something though.
 
Which was a bargain compared to the war on drugs and the war on poverty that are still ongoing and adding to our deficit/debt. How do you suggest that we fix that?
 
sawyerloggingon said:
When you come here and recite this left wing talk radio BS you are going to get nailed to the wall with facts and figures. Maybe you'll learn something though.
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You posted no facts and figures, but Rueters did--$2 Trillion wasted.

Or are you going to argue that there really were WMD, and that Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Powell and Rice were telling us the truth?
 
sawyerloggingon said:
When you come here and recite this left wing talk radio BS you are going to get nailed to the wall with facts and figures. Maybe you'll learn something though.
Click to expand...

So how about giving us the right wing facts and figures and then we can compromise on the truth!!
 
tessaesque said:
So where did the other almost $8 trillion in debt come from? 'Cause that's the additional debt accrued since 2000, unrelated to the Iraq figure. If the total Iraq war cost (extended over 4 decades) could have bought us a lot of **** the fed shouldn't spend money on (bike paths? seriously? the federal government needs to pay for these why??), imagine was the $8 trillion that's ALREADY BEEN LOST could have bought us.

Since 2000, we've spent almost $3 trillion a year. That's almost $39 trillion. So you're lamenting what we did w/5% of that money. Just to put it into perspective.
Click to expand...

There's no defense for GWShiiteForBrains. Give it up so you don't look ignorant by association.

Elective Amnesia: Why does George W. Bush get a free ride? - The Agonist

"So why does Bush get a free ride?

Why isn’t there a robust examination of his administration’s mistakes to avoid making them again?

The failure to engage in rigorous self-examination is an invitation to disaster.

We’re seeing the worst Bush policies repeated by a vain glorious President Obama.

We’ve got wars against those who are not threatening or attacking us in the Middle East.

The bailouts continued with gusto.

Deregulation continues unopposed.

Wall Street and other crooks responsible for the financial collapse are walking around free, getting richer, without any consequence.

Good jobs are leaving the country, never to return.

Fossil fools run energy policy with nothing but nostrums aimed at solving the monumental, world threatening problems of pollution and climate change.

Sure, let’s forget Bush. It makes Obama seem almost tolerable."
 
tessaesque said:
So where did the other almost $8 trillion in debt come from? 'Cause that's the additional debt accrued since 2000, unrelated to the Iraq figure. If the total Iraq war cost (extended over 4 decades) could have bought us a lot of **** the fed shouldn't spend money on (bike paths? seriously? the federal government needs to pay for these why??), imagine was the $8 trillion that's ALREADY BEEN LOST could have bought us.

Since 2000, we've spent almost $3 trillion a year. That's almost $39 trillion. So you're lamenting what we did w/5% of that money. Just to put it into perspective.
Click to expand...

While it can seem like a small bit of the budget, the absolute value is still staggering. Well so is the full of our budget. 3 trillion could pay for a lot of healthcare. And I would rather we invest that money (if we must spend it) on Americans to solve American problems rather than engaging in aggressive, state building, proactive infinity war.
 
calamity said:
Thanks, George. The war to nowhere has cost us $2 Trillion and will probably cost us several more before all is said and done. And people wonder why the economy tanked, the deficit is so high and then they blame Obama for the fact that we have no money now.


That $6 Trillion could have bought us lots of bike paths, solar panels and high speed rail lines. But, no. Bush and his supporters had to start a war with a country that never did us any harm.


Dolts.
Click to expand...

<Yawn> If you want to argue the war was unnecessary, that is one thing. But to say the money was wasted and could have been used to build bike paths, well, you pretty much gig your own fish with that one.
 
DaveFagan said:
There's no defense for GWShiiteForBrains. Give it up so you don't look ignorant by association.

Elective Amnesia: Why does George W. Bush get a free ride? - The Agonist

"So why does Bush get a free ride?

Why isn’t there a robust examination of his administration’s mistakes to avoid making them again?

The failure to engage in rigorous self-examination is an invitation to disaster.

We’re seeing the worst Bush policies repeated by a vain glorious President Obama.

We’ve got wars against those who are not threatening or attacking us in the Middle East.

The bailouts continued with gusto.

Deregulation continues unopposed.

Wall Street and other crooks responsible for the financial collapse are walking around free, getting richer, without any consequence.

Good jobs are leaving the country, never to return.

Fossil fools run energy policy with nothing but nostrums aimed at solving the monumental, world threatening problems of pollution and climate change.

Sure, let’s forget Bush. It makes Obama seem almost tolerable."
Click to expand...

Did I defend anybody?
 
tessaesque said:
So where did the other almost $8 trillion in debt come from? 'Cause that's the additional debt accrued since 2000, unrelated to the Iraq figure. If the total Iraq war cost (extended over 4 decades) could have bought us a lot of **** the fed shouldn't spend money on (bike paths? seriously? the federal government needs to pay for these why??), imagine was the $8 trillion that's ALREADY BEEN LOST could have bought us.

Since 2000, we've spent almost $3 trillion a year. That's almost $39 trillion. So you're lamenting what we did w/5% of that money. Just to put it into perspective.
Click to expand...

Hey I agree the government wastes a lot of money, but this reply is a complete red herring. The fact that the government has other debts doesn't justify the creation of this debt.
 
Wiseone said:
Hey I agree the government wastes a lot of money, but this reply is a complete red herring. The fact that the government has other debts doesn't justify the creation of this debt.
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I refer to my very last two sentences.
 
DaveFagan said:
There's no defense for GWShiiteForBrains. Give it up so you don't look ignorant by association.

Elective Amnesia: Why does George W. Bush get a free ride? - The Agonist

"So why does Bush get a free ride?

Why isn’t there a robust examination of his administration’s mistakes to avoid making them again?

The failure to engage in rigorous self-examination is an invitation to disaster.

We’re seeing the worst Bush policies repeated by a vain glorious President Obama.

We’ve got wars against those who are not threatening or attacking us in the Middle East.

The bailouts continued with gusto.

Deregulation continues unopposed.

Wall Street and other crooks responsible for the financial collapse are walking around free, getting richer, without any consequence.

Good jobs are leaving the country, never to return.

Fossil fools run energy policy with nothing but nostrums aimed at solving the monumental, world threatening problems of pollution and climate change.

Sure, let’s forget Bush. It makes Obama seem almost tolerable."
Click to expand...

You mean nobody explained it to you? Politicians that reach the presidency all do the same things, regardless of the party from which they came. The parties say different things but that is just to garner votes. What they do is what they believe will maintain their power. Dealing with the common good is a fairly minor part of the agenda. There is no interest in fixing anything or making anything better.
 
The OP talks exclusively about the money Bush spent on the Iraq war but avoids talking about the lives lost and money spent by obama in Afghanistan in what he himself called, "the good war". Both figures dwarf lives lost and money spent by Bush in afghan.

"On July 7, 2011, U.S. troop deaths from the war in Afghanistan since President Obama took office reached 1,000. That means that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. fatalities in the war in Afghanistan have occurred during the Obama administration, which has managed the war for a mere quarter of its duration."

U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan: Obama vs Bush | Just Foreign Policy


“We can’t pay our bills here, yet we’re spending $8 billion a month in Afghanistan,” Mr. Jones said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know what our country is trying to accomplish. History says Afghanistan will never be a nation. It will be a country of tribes. We’re wearing out the troops and spending money we don’t have.”

A Motley Consensus on the Afghanistan Line Item - NYTimes.com


Obama always said that we are spending way too much; we're going to go line by line in the budget. And one of the only good promises he made was to save money on Iraq. That's how he was planning to support everyone from cradle to grave. It doesn't really add up that way, but at least he wanted to cut spending on something big.

"And he did cut the spending in Iraq. But the spending has gone up enormously in Afghanistan. Even adjusted for inflation, we see that, other than Bush's last two years with the surge, total spending was lower for most of the Bush term on the two wars."

https://mises.org/daily/5231
 
Fisher said:
<Yawn> If you want to argue the war was unnecessary, that is one thing. But to say the money was wasted and could have been used to build bike paths, well, you pretty much gig your own fish with that one.
Click to expand...

I was being facetious with the "bike path" bit, but the point made was we could have spent that money on infrastructure, including pipe-dream green energy alternatives. Sure beats spending Trillions to kill people who never did us any harm.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
The OP talks exclusively about the money Bush spent on the Iraq war but avoids talking about the lives lost and money spent by obama in Afghanistan in what he himself called, "the good war". Both figures dwarf lives lost and money spent by Bush in afghan.

"On July 7, 2011, U.S. troop deaths from the war in Afghanistan since President Obama took office reached 1,000. That means that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. fatalities in the war in Afghanistan have occurred during the Obama administration, which has managed the war for a mere quarter of its duration."

U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan: Obama vs Bush | Just Foreign Policy


“We can’t pay our bills here, yet we’re spending $8 billion a month in Afghanistan,” Mr. Jones said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know what our country is trying to accomplish. History says Afghanistan will never be a nation. It will be a country of tribes. We’re wearing out the troops and spending money we don’t have.”

A Motley Consensus on the Afghanistan Line Item - NYTimes.com


Obama always said that we are spending way too much; we're going to go line by line in the budget. And one of the only good promises he made was to save money on Iraq. That's how he was planning to support everyone from cradle to grave. It doesn't really add up that way, but at least he wanted to cut spending on something big.

"And he did cut the spending in Iraq. But the spending has gone up enormously in Afghanistan. Even adjusted for inflation, we see that, other than Bush's last two years with the surge, total spending was lower for most of the Bush term on the two wars."

https://mises.org/daily/5231
Click to expand...
We went to war in Afghanistan under Bush. Correct?
 
calamity said:
We went to war in Afghanistan under Bush. Correct?
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And yet there are more deaths under Obama than Bush in Afghan. So, whose war is it?
 
ecofarm said:
And yet there are more deaths under Obama than Bush in Afghan. So, whose war is it?
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IMO, if Bush hadn't turned his back on Afghan to attack Iraq, we would by now be out of Afghan and Al Queda would have been pretty much annihilated. So, in a lot of ways, you could add the extra Trillions spent in Afghan to Bush's Iraq tab.
 
I bet not even half of that actually went to effort. Probably scooped up by politicians and their cohorts. To their friends in the private war market at incredibly inflated costs most likely.
 
calamity said:
IMO, if Bush hadn't turned his back on Afghan to attack Iraq, we would by now be out of Afghan and Al Queda would have been pretty much annihilated. So, in a lot of ways, you could add the extra Trillions spent in Afghan to Bush's Iraq tab.
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That speculation doesn't have anything to do with my question.

Obama has more deaths in Afghan than Bush... whose war is it?
 
calamity said:
IMO, if Bush hadn't turned his back on Afghan to attack Iraq, we would by now be out of Afghan and Al Queda would have been pretty much annihilated. So, in a lot of ways, you could add the extra Trillions spent in Afghan to Bush's Iraq tab.
Click to expand...

I really dont even know what Al Queda is. Perhaps it is propagandized soldiers trained through capture in secret detention facilities all headed by the CIA? Or is it some super sect of cult like pissed off arab civilians? What the heck is Al Queda?
 
calamity said:
We went to war in Afghanistan under Bush. Correct?
Click to expand...

We stayed there under obama correct? Obama called it the good war correct? More lives were lost and more money was spent in Afghan under obama than under Bush so your entire OP is destroyed on that base alone. Isn't Randi about to start, maybe you should run along and listen to more of her vile dribble.
 
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