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Thursday, January 8, 2009 12:00 AM

W. and the damage done

President Bush inherited a peaceful, prosperous America. As he exits, Salon consults experts in seven fields to try to assess the devastation.

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  • Thursday, January 8, 2009 09:24 AM

    cost..please define

    Newsflash...wow, wars cost money?? lots of big numbers being thrown around there...So the 'cost' of our recent warmongering is to cap out conservatively at 3 trillion, give or take a couple hundred billion. Ok, Iraq war has been an enormous blunder, lets shoot fish in a barrel. Our country has been at war some 6-7 years now with enormous costs to our nation and many others. Granted.

    The three trillion number, does that account for the gross cost of warfare or the net. All those deployed would be pulling a paycheck just being on active duty here in the 'safe' confines of the USA. i safely assume they would have been training here at home for future battlefield excursions, using ammunition, fuel, etc.., is that money deducted from the 3 trillion? It was going to be spent either way, here or in Iraq.

    US soil has been safe from attack since 9/11 (thank your lucky star for shoebomber Richard Reid choking at 35,000 feet, would we even have an airline industry if he succeeded?) but Al Queda has struck a Bali night club, Spanish trains, London subways and many more. Their reach is global, southeast asia, somalia, middle east, and the painfully obvious Pakistan. Assuming we had ulterior motives in Iraq, our goal was to chase Al Queda down worldwide. If we had not gone to Iraq, is it fair to assume we would have one to many of these places in efforts to eradicate Al Queda. Is that assumption factored into the 'cost'. What about a full scale attack on Afghanistan, is that factored in? Does anybody know what that would have cost? Ask Russia, they might be able to help.

    Nothing lies more than facts. Are we cooking the books here in an effort to make W look even worse than we already know? And the gain in doing this? Deconstruct those big numbers being thrown around, are we fear-mongering to our base like some other party we know does? Is it not a little hypocritical to cook the data for such unnecessary self-serving needs? We spare few opportunities to self-righteously point out to our loyal sheep the manipulative methods applied by W with WMD etc...its hard to digest equally manipulative methods by those on the left, who fuel the flames of a soon gone problem instead of utilizing their talents to galvinize those who care about our future and steer our collective intellects toward what the world needs now, solutions. Is that factored into your 'costs'?

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