A LITTLE IGNORANCE IS A COSTLY THING

A new study indicates America's involvement in the Iraq and Afghan wars will cost from 4 to 6 TRILLION dollars. That's from a Harvard study recently, and is much higher than an earlier Brown University study which set the top cost at 4 trillion.

 

Both are much greater than Bush White House estimates when we entered the wars..the highest figure heard then was a "mere" 200 billion.

 

That wasn't the only mistake the White House made.

 

We went to war in Iraq to root out WMDs..weapons of mass destruction. None were ever found. Cold comfort to the families of our KIAs, and wounded there. Ditto Afghanistan where we went to war because the Taliban supported  Bin Laden who was  behind the 9/11 tragedy. Wrong again. No connection between Taliban and 9/11.  Cold comfort to the families of those killed, wounded, and MIA in our longest war. And taxpayers bearing the costs of two unnecessary wars.

 

And what did we gain? Is Iraq an ally? Far from it; it's closer to Iran than the USA. And all those "oil revenues" that were supposed to offset much of our war expenses? Didn't happen. And new reports on graft, corruption, and waste among government officials and contractors keep rolling in.

 

Is Afghanistan a stable government and future ally? Don't count on it. It too could end up being more influenced by Iran than the U-S. Corruption is rife, etc.etc.etc.

 

Yet, despite our ignorance that led us into two ill-fated and highly expensive wars, people in Washington haven't learned. Each time a new flare up occurs, some official, who hasn't learned from recent history (let alone the ancient history of Vietnam) calls for the U-S to get involved "militarily." Among recent calls for such U-S action have included possible wars against: North Korea, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iran..and I'm probably leaving out a few.

 

All of this stemming from our original ignorance of the true situation regarding WMDs and the Taliban..some very costly errors.

 

I'm just sayin'...

 

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I wrote last week that Sen. McConnell had once held a seat in the state legislature. Wrong. He filed to run for the seat, but because of residency reasons never got on the ballot.