That's one costly cakewalk

Report: Total cost of war might reach $1.2 TRILLION

Here's a little perspective, presuming you haven't already puked all over your keyboard. According to the article, the $1.2 trillion we're using to pay for rubble in Iraq might have been used instead to pay for all of the following:

1- doubling of cancer research funding;

2 - treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged;

3 - a global immunization campaign.

4 - universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country.

What about national security? Well, the article continues, after paying for the above, we'd still have enough money in our $1.2 trillion pot for all the the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that, to date, have not been put in place, including:

5 - better baggage and cargo screening; and

6 - stronger measures against nuclear proliferation.

But instead, we (and our children, and our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren) are paying to bring destruction and discord to a strategically vital area of the world.

PS: Suppose you were trying to buy a car, or a house, and the salesman quoted a price, that later, after you'd already signed the papers, turned out to be completely bogus. You'd be pissed right? Murderously, pissed. That's exactly how you should feel about the war. At one point, Bush said the war would pay for itself; later he upped the cost to $50 billion-- and promised this would buy democracy, not just in Iraq, but across the middle east. Since then the price has gotten higher, while the promised return has gotten smaller, and smaller, and smaller.