MoJo: Bush's Fuzzy War Math

http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2003/37/we_544_01.html

After months of sidestepping and stonewalling, Bush finally puts a price tag on his war in Iraq. But it's just the first installment.

By David Gilson
September 18, 2003

"Near the end of his September 7 address to the nation, George W. Bush spoke about something he never had before. Six months after he sent US troops rolling into Iraq, 18 weeks after he declared an end to "major combat operations," Bush finally offered an estimate of just how much the seemingly open-ended and relentlessly bloody operations in Iraq might cost."

snip (between these two paragraphs - a time line of admininstration statements and outside analysts' estimates)

"Of course, figuring out the ultimate price tag depends on constantly changing variables, including several still-undefined ones: How long will the US remain in Iraq? How much will our allies or the UN pitch in? Where's that promised windfall from Iraqi oil? So far, the Bush administration is keeping mum on these questions, further fueling the guessing game. And as George W. Bush's makes his periodic demands for more money, it will only reinforce the impression that on the financial front, as on the military and diplomatic fronts, he is making things up as he goes along."

didn't Smirky insult them and call them ineffective ?? Are they expected to help us out at all ? Are we supposed to believe this is supposed to be the end-cost of rebuilding ?

any estimates right now would be vastly under-estimated. I hope this drags Smirky down like a lodestone around his neck in the middle of the ocean.