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Iraq war cost: $6 trillion. What else could have been done?
The Los Angeles Times ^ | March 18, 2013 | David Lazarus

Posted on 03/19/2013 6:39:57 AM PDT by algernon_garnock

In case you were wondering, the price tag for the war in Iraq could eventually top $6 trillion.

Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion, occupation and slugfest of Iraq, which, lest we forget, was begun in the name of protecting us from weapons of mass destruction that never existed.

A study by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies finds that the war has cost $1.7 trillion so far, with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans.

Those costs could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next 40 years, the report concluded.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: dollars; iraq; iraqwar; trillion
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To: algernon_garnock

Frankly, if Bush I had finished the job in the first place in 1991, we wouldn’t have been in this mess.


21 posted on 03/19/2013 7:13:25 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: rockrr
>>>Worth every penny.

Would have been had it not been run by a bunch of political generals and RINO Republicans.

But since it was....no....it wasn't.

22 posted on 03/19/2013 7:15:48 AM PDT by NELSON111
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To: algernon_garnock
Odd...I was educated through public schools that a war ended the Great Depression. Now I've learned (from this article) that a war provides no job creation and is purely one massive expenditure.

As taxpayers, we're all on the hook for that estimated $6-trillion tab. That's nearly half the current national debt.

On a lesser note, simple arithmetic I learned from public schools was also wrong as I learned from the LA Times that 6 Trillion is one half of 16.7 Trillion.

23 posted on 03/19/2013 7:19:35 AM PDT by Rational Thought
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To: dfwgator

“It worked in the 80s with the Iran-Iraq war.”
Except it didn’t.

I remember one soldier writing about the war “We were killing a lot of people that weren’t Iraqis”. We adapted to a new kind of warfare. We struck fear in the hearts of every country that needed to fear us.
The biggest problem was the casualties from the political war on GW Bush that vilified the people who fought over there.


24 posted on 03/19/2013 7:21:06 AM PDT by AppyPappy (You never see a massacre at a gun show.)
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To: algernon_garnock

These reports are so worthless—over 40 years. Dam fool. Hey, how about 14T over 80 years, or 28T over 160 years, ya friggin maroon. Itza a much bigger number.


25 posted on 03/19/2013 7:26:19 AM PDT by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: algernon_garnock

At the time - everyone’s, and I mean everyone’s intelligence service said Saddam had WMD - even those intelligence services from country’s who did not support us. Saddam refused to allow confirmation of destruction of WMD’s over and over again. He violated the UN treaty several times over.

He acted as though he not only had WMD, but was expanding the program to possibly include nuclear weapons. Why did he do that? I don’t know.

We knew he was sponsoring terrorist actions against Israel. 9/11 had taught us that we were vulnerable and leaving Saddam and his regime intact was perceived as a definite threat.

The fear was, do we wait for definite proof of his having WMDs, which in the meantime he may use against us, or, do we remove the threat now. Bush staked his political reputation on this action and now we know what? There there definitely were no WMDs? Has that been truly verified? Has it definitely been proven that he wasn’t working with Al Quedia? The post-Saddam Iraq was a screw-up by us and I think that is what damaged out reputation most.

Still a lot of unanswered questions to me, but maybe I just do not have the whole story.


26 posted on 03/19/2013 7:32:26 AM PDT by rusty schucklefurd
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To: algernon_garnock

LA Times, right on the Obama narrative, trying to blame his deficits on Iraq. Headline, which surely is the only thing most of this fish wrap’s readers ever see, more than three times what this latest estimate claims.


27 posted on 03/19/2013 7:33:25 AM PDT by Prospero (Si Deus trucido mihi, ego etiam fides Deus.)
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To: algernon_garnock

$6 Trillion, adjusted for inflation, is more than the cost of WWII, at $5 Trillion.


28 posted on 03/19/2013 7:39:25 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: GodAndCountryFirst

[The LibTards will feel stupid when the jihadists take over Iraq and dig up all those WMDs that “never existed,” but actually exist under the sand in places we never looked.]

So, when were about to invade, he took his best weapons and instead of using them, he buried them all in the sand?

I don’t think so.


29 posted on 03/19/2013 7:50:51 AM PDT by Hilda
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To: algernon_garnock
Those costs could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next 40 years, the report concluded.

Can any accountants perform a Present Value calculation on that? My guess would be well under half a trillion.

30 posted on 03/19/2013 7:54:01 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: andy58-in-nh

It’s part of a current MSM-libtard push to make the Iraq war look like a failure in preparation for 0 declaring defeat and leaving Afghanistan. Bush victory, Obama defeat. They can’t handle it.


31 posted on 03/19/2013 8:01:39 AM PDT by Justa
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To: GodAndCountryFirst

Don’t forget the sat-tracked trucks and ‘mystery ships’...


32 posted on 03/19/2013 8:03:00 AM PDT by polymuser ("We have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!" (HRC))
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To: algernon_garnock
I'm ambivalent. I can't stand the media created false narratives or the intentional sabotage of the entire Iraq War by traitor liberals throughout our government. On the other hand I've never been convinced there was a compelling national interest or constitutional authority for us to invade Iraq.
33 posted on 03/19/2013 8:10:23 AM PDT by Pan_Yan (I love it when spell check selects every single word in my post.)
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To: blueunicorn6

Agree. Something smells here.


34 posted on 03/19/2013 8:19:25 AM PDT by what's up
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To: rusty schucklefurd
U.S. Secretly Takes Yellowcake From Iraq (Nuclear)

Munitions Found in Iraq Meet WMD Criteria, Official Says (Chemical)

Bio-Chemical Weapons & Saddam: A History.
35 posted on 03/19/2013 9:09:55 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: rusty schucklefurd

The other thing that many people forget is that the war gave us the opportunity to kill thousands of terrorists in Iraq. The war attracted many of the nuts in the world into the Sunni triangle area. We killed many dangerous people there as opposed to having to hunt them down somewhere else.
How many of those terrorists would have eventually made it to the US or some other place in the world to kill innocent Americans?


36 posted on 03/19/2013 9:15:54 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: algernon_garnock

They could be a United States Constitution, Christian Nation for less money.


37 posted on 03/19/2013 9:17:57 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: algernon_garnock
It costs a lot because America always fights the wars backwards. We destroy all of their crappy infrastructure and then feel obligated to replace it with modern state-of-the-art bridges, water and power plants, etc. while our own infrastructure goes to crap. Then we pay for a bunch of tribute to foreign dictators to be our buddies so they won't make speeches against us in the UN.

This could have been fought with military surplus munitions and then we simply rolled out as fast as we rolled in and let the survivors fight it out, We would have been no worse off and it wouldn't have cost more than a little combat pay for a couple divisions.

38 posted on 03/19/2013 9:42:31 AM PDT by AmusedBystander (The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next)
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To: rusty schucklefurd

It only fits into one logical category; order out of chaos. Check the CFR membership. Check the damage done by the NWO Bush Mafia clan.


39 posted on 03/19/2013 10:45:21 AM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: algernon_garnock

I doubt this number is even close to true.


40 posted on 03/19/2013 10:49:13 AM PDT by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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