Letters to the Editor
Frank Smith, Bluff City, KS
Published Letters: 131 Editor's Choice: 15
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Five years? No, longer. White House lied about intent and projected costs.
[Read the article: Five years of Iraq lies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Though today is the anniversary of the official invasion of Iraq, special forces went in weeks earlier to soften up targets. The lies and the preparation for the invasion began barely after the World Trade Center buildings toppled, however. The following is a fascinating story on Bush's intent and some early lies about the estimated cost of the invasion and occupation. Note that the current cost of the war has now reached eleven times the pre-war official estimate. Nobel economics prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz has calculated the eventual cost of the war may reach three trillion dollars, 60 times the original White House fantasy.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/01/sproject.irq.war.cost/
Jan. 2, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is downplaying published reports of an estimated $50 billion to $60 billion price tag for a war with Iraq, saying it is "impossible" to estimate the cost at this time.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday that such a conflict could cost $50 billion to $60 billion -- the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
But Trent Duffy, an OMB spokesman, said Daniels did not intend to imply in the Times interview that $50 billion to $60 billion was a hard White House estimate.
"He said it could -- could -- be $60 billion," Duffy said. "It is impossible to know what any military campaign would ultimately cost."
Duffy also was careful to caution that President Bush had not made a decision to use military force against Saddam's regime.
Bush stressed that point in comments to reporters on Tuesday. "I want to remind people that Saddam Hussein, the choice is his to make as to whether or not the Iraqi situation [is] resolved peacefully. ... I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq," he said.
I'm going to protect the American people. The economy's strong. It's resilient. Obviously, so long as somebody's looking for work, we've got to continue to make it strong and resilient."
'No one knows how much it will cost'
In September, Daniels disputed an estimate by Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey -- that war with Iraq could cost $200 billion.
Daniels said he believes Lindsey's estimate was "the upper end of a hypothetical," Duffy said.
Congressional Democrats this past fall estimated the cost of a military attack against Iraq around $93 billion.
But they noted that the figure did not include costs such as U.S. peacekeeping efforts, foreign assistance or loan forgiveness, or the economic impact should an oil crisis ensue.
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McCain is scarier than I imagined.
[Read the article: Bomb, bomb Iran?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks to Joe Conason for pointing out that McCain is getting his foreign policy advice from one of the scarier neocons on the planet, the professional warmonger Randy Scheunemann. The MSM seems to have missed that, as well as the connection between McCain and John Hagee, the raving ranter who calls the Catholic church "The Great Whore." I therefore doubt that Scheunemann's presence will make any difference to it, nor will the MSM note McCain's eventual sucking up to Jerry Falwell who blamed 9/11 on America's tolerance for gays, lesbians and the ACLU. But they will surely, however, treat us to endless repetitions of the words of Obama's former minister, Jeremiah Wright, right through the first Tuesday in November.
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"Why?" Because Petraeus is his marionette.
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Frontline showed the first half of a terrific documentary tonight, showing how Cheney manipulated us into war, every step of the way. Lies, bogus reports, intimidation, media control.
A long series of generals and admirals have resigned or expressed their opposition after they retired, but there's no chance Petraeus will ever be anything but a lap dog.
An excellent Esquire article, Admiral "Fox" Fallon, forced into retirement a year before his assignment as CentCom commander (Petraeus' boss) would have been over, notes that he never called Petraeus an "ass-kissing little chicken shit." I can't imagine, though, that he didn't mentally agree with it when the widely circulated story surfaced back in September. Fallon prefers diplomacy to sacrificing troops and countless civilians, but Petraeus, like the mad imperialist Cheney, is more than willing to invade Iran.
And let's not forget that Cheney is liable to be back at the helm of Halliburton in a few years.
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Dear Day: "And why didn't you?"
[Read the article: "We Don't Know This Sen. Joe"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If anyone would show me a single instance of Joe Lieberman showing the slightest modicum of good sense on our foreign policy, vis-a-vis Israel, during his entire public life, I would happy to eat the newspaper in which the startling story was carried, as the time and place of the discoverer's choosing.
This is the guy who teamed up with Lynne Cheney in 1995 to found the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. In November 2001, they went on a McCarthyite rant and published: “Defending Civilization: How Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It.” The report says that colleges and universities have been the “weak link in America’s response to the attacks” and that professors and students have been “short on patriotism and long onself-flagellation.” It lists 117 professors and students and their comments as evidence that campuses are hostile to the US and attacking Western civilization.
Though they'd been beating that drum for some time, in the Fall of 2000, Senator Joseph Lieberman and strange bed-fellow Lynne Cheney, blamed Hollywood, popular music and video-games for corrupting youth, at hearings on a Federal Trade Commission report chaired by Senator John McCain.