“Hardly, but it is another sign of W’s incompetence. I believe the initial estimate was $40 to $60 billion. We should have gone in with overwhelming force and seized control at the very beginning.”
Yeah right. The initial estimate was never 40-60 billion. We did go in with overwhelming force and still have it there. What we don’t have is the political will to use that force.
On September 15, 2002 in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Lindsey estimated the high limit on the cost to be 1-2% of GNP, or about $100-$200 billion. Mitch Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, subsequently discounted this estimate as "very, very high" and stated that the costs would be between $50-$60 billion. This lower figure was endorsed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.We didn't use overwhelming force or take decisive control of the country either.