This is shocking.
Link: The three trillion dollar war | Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes - Times Online.
The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined.
The cost of direct US military operations - not even including long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans - already exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean War.
And there is an extract on BBC2 Newsnights site: The Three Trillion Dollar War by Stiglitz and Bilmes
I want to get this in perspective. I am a peacemaker. It would be nice if I earned £30,000 a year (say $60,000). I don't, but I can dream. You could employ 50 million people like me with that money. 50 million!! Do you think 50 million peacemakers might just be able to sort out a war. I don't want to be simplistic, so I won't push that line much further. How about one of those cruise missiles that were launched in gtreat numbers at Baghdad during the first stage of the war. They cost US$600,000. You could pay 10 peacemakers the exalted salary of $60,000 a year for one of those. Would ten missiles have been missed?
Please excuse me while I go and lament a salary that might have been and the 50 million colleagues I never knew.
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