I read this morning that President Bush
had made his third visit to Iraq, and it
imeediately struck me, how much did that
cost the American taxpayer? One has to
think that such a visit runs into millions
of dollars in costs, mostly for security,
to what end? Such a visit gives the
pResident a platform to continue his
fallacious reasoning that the war is
going well? His visit will buoy up troop
morale? Is that worth the costs involved?
The war(s) have already cost $448.4
billion, and I understand that another
$50 billion will be requested next month
when the Petraeus/Crocker report is
delivered, no matter what it says. This
is already the costliest war in American
history - can we afford these little
jaunts by the President to make his
"points" from the battle front?

It seems that such visibility serves only
the President's morale, and it would seem
a rather costly method for keeping his
spirits up about one of America's more
disastrous mistakes militarily and in
terms of long range policy vis-a-vis
the Islamic world. It is hard to see that
we've gained any only real benefit beyond
that Saddam Hussein is gone.

So, we've replaced brutality with widespread
corruption, and that, too, is being largely
paid for by you and I. How foolish are all
these things? Also, we are losing two-three
Americans a day, the Iraqis about
sixty-something a day, and peace remains
as far away as the day we invaded (19
March, 2003, in sixteen days the war in Iraq
will be 4.5 years old). The two conflicts
are now costing the US over $8 billion a
month, can we *really* afford the President
gallivanting about on the battlefield while
incurring all these other costs, including two
conflicts that are no closer to resolution
than they were on 7 October, 2001 or in
the weeks after we invaded Iraq over four
years ago? VMS


Note: Written Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:09:10