An Expensive Hell: Iraq War Cost at $291 Billion

[Zomby Woof]

By the end of 2009, when the next American regime takes over, the cost will top a half trillion. (Source: AP wire and L.A. Times)

Instability, mass killing, and chaos, long part of the middle eastern tradition, has reached a fever pitch which has not yet peaked.

Since the spring of 2003, in the short term we have seen:

Afghanistan, supposedly the hallowed ground of the so-called 'war on terror', has been pushed deep into the margins. Unless there is a troop casualty or mass bombing raid, it rarely makes it before page 10 in your front page section of the Daily Whatsis. It is invisible on the TV news.

Retaliatory terrorist bombings in Bali, Spain, England, and India.

A more dangerous North Korea.

More record budget deficits in the U.S., accompanied by the continuing neglect of our infrastructure, environmental degradation, energy waste, overconsumption, educational rot, rising obesity, declining health care quality, and loss of income.

Goodwill toward America in the wake of 9/11 replaced by mockery, fear, scorn, distrust, and derision as a result of colossal neocon arrogance.

Darfur is not getting the help it needs.

The festering of scapegoats, bogeymen, and red herrings such as immigration, flag-burning, homosexual marriage, and an increasingly disturbing obsession with callow celebrities which are famous for no discernible reason.

A woeful lack of preparation for natural disasters at home and abroad, with even less of an ability to properly rebuild and restore.

The current hostility between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iran goes unchecked.

Election reform in the U.S. is swept under the chad-covered rug, next to the Diebold machine.

In the long term we shall likely see:

All of the above problems get worse.

America reaches a level of debt and damage in which recovery may take many decades, or more than a century, to rectify, if ever.

More middle eastern countries get into the warfare mix. China and Russia will not sit on the sidelines for good.

Fascism and decaying civil liberties will become an acceptable American norm. Like the frog-in-boiling-water analogy, Americans become increasingly inured to the erosion of their once-cherished ideals and liberties.

The Age of Diminished Expectations will assure the most pressing world problems will be whitewashed as acceptable and normal. The growing gap between wealth and poverty will be accepted as a common good.

In all seriousness, I am an optimist. Of course I advocate we fight and fight, and fight some more. But like the Norse gods and goddesses of old, we know that fighting is all we can do in the face of blackness.

Edit: Must add global warming to the list...