Did I hear Lou Dobbs right tonight?
On CNN tonight and in between the oft repeated shots of Anderson Cooper fighting flying aluminum sheets in the Hurricane, I heard Lou asking a general some pretty tough questions. One of which was if we could call it a victory if the United States is now spending more on Iraq than the entire pre-war GDP of that nation.
So I checked it out. And he's right. That's what we've accomplished.
At nearly $200 billion, we have now spent on Iraq over three times that country's pre-war GDP! ($59.9 billion 1999 est.)
Hokey Smokes! That's good value for the buck. I'm glad Bush is such a good steward of my tax dollars.
Pre-war Population of Iraq: 22,675,617 (July 2000 est.)
And we've spent nearly $200 Billion on Iraq so far, and continue to add to the cost of the war at a rate of $9 Billion a month.
Let's see, divide $200,000,000,000 by 22,675,614 people (we'll assume we wouldn't give any money to Saddam or his two sons we killed). You get $8,820.04 per person.
I think. I'm lousy at math, but then I went to Government Schools, right, Mr. Boortz? If I did the numbers wrong, let me know...I can't believe them either.
If they are right, though, consider what might have happened if we promised $8,820 to every Iraqi Citizen if they would renounce Saddam and embrace a truly democratic system and both the friendship and protection of the United States.
To show our good faith, we'd also promise we'd continue to invest $9 Billion a month into re-tooling their economy and infrastructure. Or if they prefer, each Iraqi Citizen could get a check from us for $396 a month. (And hope nobody told them about 40 acres and a mule or all those treaties with the American Indian.)
It would work! Think about it. Remember how happy you were with that one single $300 tax rebate Bush gave you? Think how happy the Iraqis would be if we gave them almost a hundred dollars more and then kept giving it to them every single month indefinitely!
Think of all the American Products they'd be able to buy with our tax dollars! It'd have to be more than what we're hoping to get back from CAFTA! What a boon to American exports it would be!
By golly, with that kind of money, we could have won the Hearts and Minds of those people without killing any of 'em, not to mention the 1700 or so of our own brave sons and daughters who would still be alive.
But no, I suppose the Bush Administration is right. It is better to spend that money the way we are, building the kind of body count Americans can be proud of. Spending that tax money to build a better, stronger, friendlier Iraq just doesn't make sense when we can use all that money to encourage the kind of hatred that will result in the kind of terrorism that will keep conservatives in power and petroleum corporation profits high as far into the future as the Project for a New American Century can dream.
That's what Jesus would do, I betcha.
Sources:
Lou Dobbs on CNN today
geography.about.com/library/cia/blciraq.htm
http://costofwar.com/numbers.html
The Cost of War calculator is set to reach $204.6 billion at the end of fiscal year 2005 (September 30, 2005).
So I checked it out. And he's right. That's what we've accomplished.
At nearly $200 billion, we have now spent on Iraq over three times that country's pre-war GDP! ($59.9 billion 1999 est.)
Hokey Smokes! That's good value for the buck. I'm glad Bush is such a good steward of my tax dollars.
Pre-war Population of Iraq: 22,675,617 (July 2000 est.)
And we've spent nearly $200 Billion on Iraq so far, and continue to add to the cost of the war at a rate of $9 Billion a month.
Let's see, divide $200,000,000,000 by 22,675,614 people (we'll assume we wouldn't give any money to Saddam or his two sons we killed). You get $8,820.04 per person.
I think. I'm lousy at math, but then I went to Government Schools, right, Mr. Boortz? If I did the numbers wrong, let me know...I can't believe them either.
If they are right, though, consider what might have happened if we promised $8,820 to every Iraqi Citizen if they would renounce Saddam and embrace a truly democratic system and both the friendship and protection of the United States.
To show our good faith, we'd also promise we'd continue to invest $9 Billion a month into re-tooling their economy and infrastructure. Or if they prefer, each Iraqi Citizen could get a check from us for $396 a month. (And hope nobody told them about 40 acres and a mule or all those treaties with the American Indian.)
It would work! Think about it. Remember how happy you were with that one single $300 tax rebate Bush gave you? Think how happy the Iraqis would be if we gave them almost a hundred dollars more and then kept giving it to them every single month indefinitely!
Think of all the American Products they'd be able to buy with our tax dollars! It'd have to be more than what we're hoping to get back from CAFTA! What a boon to American exports it would be!
By golly, with that kind of money, we could have won the Hearts and Minds of those people without killing any of 'em, not to mention the 1700 or so of our own brave sons and daughters who would still be alive.
But no, I suppose the Bush Administration is right. It is better to spend that money the way we are, building the kind of body count Americans can be proud of. Spending that tax money to build a better, stronger, friendlier Iraq just doesn't make sense when we can use all that money to encourage the kind of hatred that will result in the kind of terrorism that will keep conservatives in power and petroleum corporation profits high as far into the future as the Project for a New American Century can dream.
That's what Jesus would do, I betcha.
Sources:
Lou Dobbs on CNN today
geography.about.com/library/cia/blciraq.htm
http://costofwar.com/numbers.html
The Cost of War calculator is set to reach $204.6 billion at the end of fiscal year 2005 (September 30, 2005).
posted by Archie Levine at 5:55 PM
4 Comments:
Well, my dear...I'm sorry.
Maybe I'm wrong about Rove going to jail. I've been wrong before.
Lots of times. Like back when I voted for the very first time and thought John Anderson actually had a chance of winning.
Oops, just gave away how old my ass actually is.
There is the chance that Rove will "resign" as Tenet did, which of course means he'll get a medal from Bush immediately afterwards.
F'ing brilliant. Forward immediately to all those claiming to work in budgeting...oh wait...then they'd claim that would be WELFARE and we can't possibly ask the American public to pay their tax dollars for that - so it's better to just kill everyone instead...our boys and girls and their citizenry. Yeesh. Oh, and isn't that handsome doll Anderson Cooper just a....well, a handsome doll?
It's sort of the other side of Colin Powell's infamous "Pottery Barn" analogy. Suppose we just bought it instead of breaking it and having to buy it.
And yes. He's a handsome doll in that aging Soap Star slightly villainous hero kind of way.
Post a Comment
<< Home