IRAQ'S CIVIL WAR HAS COST $4,300 PER U.S. FAMILY-- SO FAR

Richard Reeves piece here is off by at least $96 billion but you get the idea. Bush has already spent well over $300 billion in Iraq and he wants to waste another $70 billion by this September 30th. Reeves' $3,000 per family cost estimate is grossly understated and the true cost is actually closer to $4,300 for each American family of four. And, that is only what the cost has been to date, and does not include the additional $120 billion Bush just asked for. When you're getting screwed you should at least know how bad you're getting screwed.

"God forbid critics of the war on Iraq should compare it with the war in Vietnam. But perhaps it is worth mentioning that the liberation of Iraq is now costing more each month than the preservation of the Republic of South Vietnam did more than 30 years ago. As the admitted direct cost of the war reached $250 billion last week -- and the White House asked for $120 billion more on Thursday -- new analyses estimate that the invasion of Iraq could end up costing $2 trillion before it is over. If you remember, the White House's own economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, was fired for predicting, in September 2002, six months before the invasion, that the total cost of the war might reach between $100 billion and $200 billion. What I (and perhaps others who questioned the wisdom of the war before it began) remember is the hundreds of e-mails and letters I received after I quoted Lindsey and used the higher figure as more likely. "Moron" and "traitor" were among the more polite epithets of the day".