JOHN McBUSH: FOUR MORE YEARS

Yesterday we took a look at the video of McCain as the Bush doppelganger in terms of the economy and the Republican policies and sheer incompetence that are wrecking the country's financial well-being. The point was simple: you like Bush's domestic agenda, the way to keep it going is to vote for John McCain. The connection between Bush and McCain in the international sphere is, if anything, even more transparent and more severe. And there's another short video to help make it clear:



And the state of the econony is very much tied to the Bush Middle East agenda. Did you know that Iraq-- at three trillion dollars-- has already cost us more than Korea or Vietnam? This war will be the centerpiece of the catastrophic Bush legacy that marks him as the absolute worst president in American history, by far.

It was supposed to be a quick war and a cheap one. Five years later, 160,000 U.S. troops are still in Iraq. And the costs keep piling up-- $12 billion every month-- putting a strain on an already faltering economy.

The United States has poured more than $500 billion into Iraq, mostly for military operations. But that figure is just a small piece of the much larger bill that taxpayers will pay in the future.

Because the money for the war is being borrowed, interest payments could add another $615 billion. A heavily depleted military will have to be rebuilt at a cost of $280 billion. Disability benefits and health care for Iraq war veterans, many of them severely injured, could add another half-trillion dollars over their lifetime.

...the war has contributed to a weakening economy-- partly by feeding the instability that has sent oil prices to record highs-- and has saddled the country with debts that will make it harder to respond to a recession, fix Social Security or meet other future needs.

"The best way to think about it is: What could we have done with $3 trillion?" [Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz] said. "What is the best way to spend the money, either for security or for our national needs in the long run? The stronger the American economy, the more prepared we are to meet any threat. If we weaken the American economy, we are less prepared."

...The price tag in Iraq now is more than double the cost of the Korean War and a third more expensive than the Vietnam War, which lasted 12 years. Stiglitz and Bilmes calculate that it will be at least 10 times as costly as the 1991 Gulf War and twice the cost of World War I.

Only World War II was more expensive. That four-year war-- in which 16 million U.S. troops were deployed on two fronts, fighting against Germany and Japan-- cost about $5 trillion in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The latest numbers are a far cry from the cost estimates made by war supporters in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion.

In September 2002, White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey told the Wall Street Journal the war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion. He was immediately excoriated by others in the administration. White House budget director Mitch Daniels called the estimate "very, very high." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called it "baloney."

And baloney it turned out to be. In fact, the entire shameful 7 years have. And there's a way to stretch that into 12 years: McCain in November.


UPDATE: A NEW BLOG

Welcome aboard the Straight Talk McCain!