(Iraq) War costs approach $10 billion a month....

on edit: The house and senate will soon begin debating a new $100+ billion special appropriations bill to fund this madness for another few months. This is utterly insane.

Ah well... it's always easier to convince people to blow other people up as opposed to feeding them, giving them shelter, an education, or anything mundane like that.

wht is the pentagon budget now?

Education, health care, development of alternative energy, social security,etc.

"Just imagine how we COULD have done with that money..."

Or just imagine this nation beginning to change into a civilized nation by using that money to start up universal healthcare.

2003 - $48 billion
2004 - $59 billion
2005 - $81 billion
2006 - $94 billion

Oh man, my estimates were way off. The whole time, I've been calculating around $4.8 billion per month, and complaining about it endlessly. Based on 2006 figures, it's actually around $7.83 billion per month. So far, it looks like we've spent about $300 billion on this war.

Also interesting: the $94 billion is about twice as much as we were spending in 2003. That's truly staggering. I'm amazed that our creditors are still lending us money for this insane adventure.

Well, at some point they will cut us off. Anybody care to bet on when that will be? Maybe December of 2006?

***Looks like Usama was right.

see the payback history of Bush and his pals?
They just go bankrupt and let the creditors take the hit.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1866779&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiralling Costs for Americans
Poor Planning, Need for New Equipment Could Push War Costs to $1 Trillion

By KEITH GARVIN

April 20, 2006 — There are many uncertainties about the progress made by coalition forces and the future prospects for stability and democracy in Iraq, but there is at least one indisputable fact: The Bush administration vastly underestimated the costs of the Iraq war.

Not only in human lives, but in monetary terms as well, the costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq far exceed the administration's initial projection of a $50 billion tab. While the number of American casualties in Iraq has declined this year, the amount of money spent to fight the war and rebuild the country has spiralled upward.

The price is expected to almost double after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week when the Senate takes up a record $106.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes $72.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed a $92 billion version of the bill last month that included $68 billion in war funding. That comes on top of $50 billion already allocated for the war this fiscal year.

Poor Planning Could Push War Costs to $1 Trillion

............

"When the administration submitted its original budget for the Iraq war, it didn't provide money for continuing the war this year or any other. We could end up spending up to $1 trillion in supplemental budgets for this war.".......

'The hard faced men who did well out of the war' (Evelyn Waugh)

The families of four private security contractors killed in Fallujah in March 2004 have filed a ground-breaking lawsuit charging Blackwater USA with fraud and wrongful death. Blackwater has fought to have the case dismissed by claiming that all liability lies not with the company but the U.S. government.

In an expose in the new issue of the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill tells the story of the struggle of the four families of the slain Blackwater contractors to hold those responsible for their deaths accountable.

We speak with Jeremy Scahill as well as Katy Helvenston, the mother of Scott Helvenston who was killed in Fallujah, and the attorney in the case, Marc Miles.

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the first US siege of Fallujah, in which at least 600 Iraqis were killed. The U.S. attack was sparked by the gruesome killing of four private contractors inside Fallujah.

The men were working for Blackwater USA, one of the biggest security firms operating in Iraq.

Altogether an estimated 20,000 non-Iraqi civilian contractors are now working for the United States inside Iraq. About 6,000 of these are security contractors.

According to Department of Labor statistics, at least 425 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq including at least 22 Blackwater contractors.

These men and women are never included in the death tolls provided by the Pentagon or reported on in the media.

While the Iraq war has helped the company Blackwater USA see its profits soar, the company is facing a major battle here at home - this time in court.

The families of the four men killed at Fallujah have filed a lawsuit charging the company with wrongful death. Blackwater has fought to have the case dismissed by claiming that all liability lies not with the company but the U.S. government.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/20/1340246

The families are waking up to the lies ....

Could someone start a thread on this one? ... I am NEW and, therefore, nor allowed the priviledge ... THANKS...

As estimated by Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz, including factors such as lost economic productivity, oil prices and soaring health care costs for the wounded. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1681119,00.html

Special shout out to our politicians and media: thanks for the costly, futile war, you useless bastards!

We're having fun now!!! What a party!!!!!!

resources, and time.

feed and cloth the poor
take care of the widows and orphans
you know, all that Christian stuff...but WAR IS JUST TOO MUCH FUN!!!!

...And how much did they say it would cost to build the infrastructure for biofuel and hydrogen fuel cells? Am I missing
something?

... cancer still hasn't been cured, AIDS orphans millions, criminals in the white house, and pot is still prohibited.

:puke:

That is a lot of money! what we could do with such money applied to education, health, peace, equality, poor... and more... ay ay ay... what a madness! we need a real change...

for all Americans than to waste money on this unnecessary war.

For Haliburton. :puke: