All the gang over at the Pentagon wants for Christmas is another ninety-nine point seven billion dollars to pursue that ever-elusive victory in the Middle East. It's that "point seven" that really bakes me. That's three hundred million dollars before we have to trot out to the warehouse for another zero. If President Pinhead gives this number his personal "Okey Doke" and it gets approved by Congress, that would boost this year's budget for those wars to about one hundred and seventy billion dollars.
Overall, the war in Iraq has cost about $350 billion. Combined with the conflict in Afghanistan and operations against terrorism elsewhere, the cost has topped $500 billion. This comes at a time when the Pinhead in Chief is preparing to send thousands more troops to try and finish whatever it is that he intends to finish. There is a plan for all this cash, right?
The cost of the war has risen dramatically "as the security situation has deteriorated and more equipment is destroyed or worn out in harsh conditions." I'm thinking the "destroyed" part is kind of hard for budgeting purposes.
All of this comes about at the moment when troop levels are increasing, and Pinhead is being (according to press reports) unusually candid: "I'm not going to make predictions about what 2007 will look like in Iraq except that it's going to require difficult choices and additional sacrifices because the enemy is merciless and violent." In his bizzaro logic, one might guess that he expects that the only way "win" is to tip the balance in sheer numbers - bodies and dollars. The mission remains a mystery to those both on the inside and out, but it's going to cost you another one hundred billion dollars next year. Give or take. And take. And take some more.
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There is a homeless couple who sell the Street Sheet on Piedmont Avenue. They just had a baby. Very nice people. When I think about $300 billion for George W. Bush's personal mission in Iraq, I think of how these and all the other homeless people in our country, or even just all the homeless children, could be off the streets. For a fraction of the amount. And how much good that would do us all right here, with plenty left over to shore up our domestic defenses.
And yet, W. would probably consider that a waste of money. So I would ask him, What is your war but a big fat waste of money? To say nothing of the dead and maimed. Will being saved actually save George W. Bush? I doubt it. I think he will go straight to hell. I like to think he's getting a taste of it now.
-CB
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