# It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War



## drivebymedia (Mar 19, 2013)

If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.

An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans  148 years after the conflict ended.



AP: Costs of US Wars Linger for Over 100 Years - ABC News


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## CrusaderFrank (Mar 19, 2013)

Not to worry, we'll pay for it by the saving from winding down the "War on Poverty"


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## drivebymedia (Mar 19, 2013)

Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.

Will it take 100 years to pay down the $6 trillion Iraq cost?

Guess so ...


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## Samson (Mar 19, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> 
> Will it take 100 years to pay down the $6 trillion Iraq cost?
> 
> Guess so ...



Cheney said What? When? Where?


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## CrusaderFrank (Mar 19, 2013)

Samson said:


> drivebymedia said:
> 
> 
> > Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> ...



Hitler is a right winger

FDR's New Deal ended the Great Depression and saved capitalism

Joe McCarthy's HUAC started a Red Scare and Blacklisted innocent Hollywood writers


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## bripat9643 (Mar 19, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> 
> Will it take 100 years to pay down the $6 trillion Iraq cost?
> 
> Guess so ...



Then it should take 200 years to pay for Obama's "stimulus," and the bill for Obamacare will never be paid off.


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## tinydancer (Mar 19, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> 
> Will it take 100 years to pay down the $6 trillion Iraq cost?
> 
> Guess so ...



Link?


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## FireFly (Mar 19, 2013)

The war dropped oil prices by 1/3rd. Over the 8 year war period that likely saved us triple the cost of the war. As soon as we pulled our troops out of Iraq on December 31, 2011 gas prices shot up 25%.

When we invaded Iraq oil price dropped 33%. That 33% drop in price times our USA annual 7.6 billion barrel oil consumption saved us $366 billion a year. Over the 8 years of the Iraq war that total oil savings is $2.9 trillion. So take out the ~$1 trillion cost of the Iraq war & we may be $1.9 trillion in the black.

*Oil prices crashed 33% from $40 down to $27 after we invaded Iraq in March 2003.*






*As soon as we pulled our troops out of Iraq on December 31, 2011 gas prices shot up 25%.*


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## aaronleland (Mar 19, 2013)

Samson said:


> drivebymedia said:
> 
> 
> > Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> ...



I believe he was talking mainly about the rebuilding of Iraq, but I don't think he meant the whole cost would be covered. He pretty much said he didn't know how much the war would cost, but to soften the blow claimed Iraqi oil would cover part of it.

_MR. RUSSERT: Every analysis said this war itself would cost about $80 billion, recovery of Baghdad, perhaps of Iraq, about $10 billion per year. We should expect as American citizens that this would cost at least $100 billion for a two-year involvement.

VICE PRES. CHENEY: I cant say that, Tim. There are estimates out there. Its important, though, to recognize that weve got a different set of circumstances than weve had in Afghanistan. *In Afghanistan youve got a nation without significant resources. In Iraq youve got a nation thats got the second-largest oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia. It will generate billions of dollars a year in cash flow if they get back to their production of roughly three million barrels of oil a day, in the relatively near future.* And that flow of resources, obviously, belongs to the Iraqi people, needs to be put to use by the Iraqi people for the Iraqi people and that will be one of our major objectives._

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/cheneymeetthepress.htm


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## Avatar4321 (Mar 19, 2013)

Let's be honest here. As long as progressives control the purse strings, _nothing_ our government spends money on will ever be paid off.

That's the problem when you support ever expanding government and oppose any efforts to do that radical concept of living within our means.


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## Mr. H. (Mar 19, 2013)

With Obama's printing presses pumping millions of dollars into the economy each week, we'll have that puppy paid down in no time.


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## Borillar (Mar 20, 2013)

Avatar4321 said:


> Let's be honest here. As long as progressives control the purse strings, _nothing_ our government spends money on will ever be paid off.
> 
> That's the problem when you support ever expanding government and oppose any efforts to do that radical concept of living within our means.



Ever expanding government like the DHS and TSA? Oh wait... that was conservatives expanding the government.


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## Avatar4321 (Mar 20, 2013)

Borillar said:


> Avatar4321 said:
> 
> 
> > Let's be honest here. As long as progressives control the purse strings, _nothing_ our government spends money on will ever be paid off.
> ...



No. It was progressive Republicans.


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## Darkwind (Mar 20, 2013)

FireFly said:


> The war dropped oil prices by 1/3rd. Over the 8 year war period that likely saved us triple the cost of the war. As soon as we pulled our troops out of Iraq on December 31, 2011 gas prices shot up 25%.
> 
> When we invaded Iraq oil price dropped 33%. That 33% drop in price times our USA annual 7.6 billion barrel oil consumption saved us $366 billion a year. Over the 8 years of the Iraq war that total oil savings is $2.9 trillion. So take out the ~$1 trillion cost of the Iraq war & we may be $1.9 trillion in the black.
> 
> ...


Oh Snap!

With English on that backhand....nicely done.


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## Mr. H. (Mar 20, 2013)

Darkwind said:


> FireFly said:
> 
> 
> > The war dropped oil prices by 1/3rd. Over the 8 year war period that likely saved us triple the cost of the war. As soon as we pulled our troops out of Iraq on December 31, 2011 gas prices shot up 25%.
> ...



Hocky fan?


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## C_Clayton_Jones (Mar 20, 2013)

> It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War



For thousands of American families who lost loved ones as a consequence of this failed and illegal war, the debt will never be paid off.


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## Mr. H. (Mar 20, 2013)

Is this thread a commentary on the Iraq war or a treatise on the ineptitude of Obama and his administration?


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## Avatar4321 (Mar 20, 2013)

C_Clayton_Jones said:


> > It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War
> 
> 
> 
> For thousands of American families who lost loved ones as a consequence of this failed and illegal war, the debt will never be paid off.



There was nothing illegal about the war. And considering it did exactly what was expected and deposed Saddam Hussein and allowed the people to set up their own government, Im not sure how you claim it failed either.


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## Billo_Really (Mar 20, 2013)

And what did the American taxpayer get in return for shelling out $6 trillion dollars?

NOTHING!

We didn't get shit!  We paid out $6 trillion dollars and got nothing in return.


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## Avatar4321 (Mar 20, 2013)

loinboy said:


> And what did the American taxpayer get in return for shelling out $6 trillion dollars?
> 
> NOTHING!
> 
> We didn't get shit!  We paid out $6 trillion dollars and got nothing in return.



alot of government.


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## Wicked Jester (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> 
> Will it take 100 years to pay down the $6 trillion Iraq cost?
> 
> Guess so ...


No, he didn't.....and that's a fact.

But then, I remember you from the ol' MSNBC board, and I see nothing has changed.


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

By 2007, Crude was $147 and gasoline at $4.75.

Then came the Great Bush Crash.


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## Mac1958 (Mar 20, 2013)

C_Clayton_Jones said:


> > It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War
> 
> 
> 
> For thousands of American families who lost loved ones as a consequence of this failed and illegal war, the &#8216;debt&#8217; will never be &#8216;paid off.&#8217;




Indeed.

The financial costs are secondary.

.


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

loinboy said:


> And what did the American taxpayer get in return for shelling out $6 trillion dollars?
> 
> NOTHING!
> 
> We didn't get shit!  We paid out $6 trillion dollars and got nothing in return.



We got 400,000 dead and wounded American soldiers.

And  a staggering debt to payout survivor benefits and medical care for 300,000 Iraq vets suffering from PTSD, and TBI (traumatic brain injury)


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## Stephanie (Mar 20, 2013)

taking out dictators and the cost for that is only good when Obama does it, then they leave the people there all alone to fend off the wolves, that sounds so much more human, doesn't it


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

Stephanie said:


> taking out dictators and the cost for that is only good when Obama does it, then they leave the people there all alone to fend off the wolves, that sounds so much more human, doesn't it



...$6 trillion and counting

...100 years to pay it down

...5,000 dead Americans

...70,000 wounded Americans

...300,000 Americans suffering permanent brain damage

...1 million dead Iraqi women and children

...A stronger Iran

...A stronger Sunni

...China and Russia dominant in Iraq oil fields

...Israel still complaining it wants more American blood and dollars to protect it


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## Billo_Really (Mar 20, 2013)

Avatar4321 said:


> alot of government.


Well, you're right about that!


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## healthmyths (Mar 20, 2013)

bripat9643 said:


> drivebymedia said:
> 
> 
> > Cheney said Iraq oil would pay for the war.
> ...



"LONG TERM"!!! REMEMBER this FAMOUS Obama budget comment???

Obama said:  " And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by _*just one-tenth of 1 percent each year --*_
                        one-tenth of 1 percent -- it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term."

Today's health care expenditure: $2,555,000,000,000. That's $2.5 trillion.

1/10th of 1 percent of $2.5 trillion is $2.5 billion Obama said would be used to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term..
Divide the $4 trillion deficit by $2.5 billion a year supposedly in savings .... and Obama's"long term?     1,600 years!

See this is where most of us critics are saying Obama is so out of touch with reality!
Simple math seems to confuse him as well as reality!


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## Mac1958 (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Stephanie said:
> 
> 
> > taking out dictators and the cost for that is only good when Obama does it, then they leave the people there all alone to fend off the wolves, that sounds so much more human, doesn't it
> ...




They're not trying to convince you, they're trying to convince themselves.

Imagine feeling like you have to do that.

.


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## Billo_Really (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> We got 400,000 dead and wounded American soldiers.
> 
> And  a staggering debt to payout survivor benefits and medical care for 300,000 Iraq vets suffering from PTSD, and TBI (traumatic brain injury)


Imagine how well we could of fixed up Walter Reed hospital with just 1% of that $6 trillion?


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## Article 15 (Mar 20, 2013)

FireFly said:


> The war dropped oil prices by 1/3rd. Over the 8 year war period that likely saved us triple the cost of the war. As soon as we pulled our troops out of Iraq on December 31, 2011 gas prices shot up 25%.
> 
> When we invaded Iraq oil price dropped 33%. That 33% drop in price times our USA annual 7.6 billion barrel oil consumption saved us $366 billion a year. Over the 8 years of the Iraq war that total oil savings is $2.9 trillion. So take out the ~$1 trillion cost of the Iraq war & we may be $1.9 trillion in the black.
> 
> ...



^ funny stuff right there.

Just ignore that gas prices nearly tripled from March 2003 until peak prices in 2008 and you make a great argument.


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## Jimbo (Mar 20, 2013)

Surely Iraq should make a sizable contribution to rebuilding its own country? Wars fought by men and women in these modern times are dictated by the Liberal Left who are too busy kowtowing to the enemy and tying our hands behind our respective backs with politically correct RoE crap rather than letting us fight these conflicts as they should be fought, therefore prolonging any and all conflicts and costing us all dearly...Financially and in human suffering.....

YES, the Liberal Left is the way to go folks...especially if you're a self hating, finger pointing dipsh*t who has a death wish and wants to commit cultural suicide......
All wars have to be paid for but it's the ruling elite who sit back and watch others die and get crippled for their stupid ideologies....
At least conservatives are not brain dead enough to think that spending more than you earn is a good way of getting rid of your debt........(that was caused by over spending in the first place)....


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## zeke (Mar 20, 2013)

It is like the people that defend the Iraqi war live in a different universe. They really REALLY want to re write the history of the Iraqi war.

But when thye claim that gas prices went down during the war, they have gone beyond simply being mis informed to being absolutely amazingly stupid.

WTF is wrong with these rethugs? Why are they the liars that they are? Why can't they admit they fuked up and made a mistake about Iraq?

And to those that think it was worth the cost to get rid of Saddam, I would bet that the believers in that bullshit lost nothing in the effort. And they sure as hell didn't put their life on the line to get rid of Saddam.


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## Mac1958 (Mar 20, 2013)

zeke said:


> It is like the people that defend the Iraqi war live in a different universe. They really REALLY want to re write the history of the Iraqi war.
> 
> But when thye claim that gas prices went down during the war, they have gone beyond simply being mis informed to being absolutely amazingly stupid.
> 
> ...




They're committed to defending and justifying their ideology, no matter what, even in the face of its horrific cost.  The only question is whether they actually believe what they're saying, and there's simply no way to know that.

So we can only do two things:  Observe them as they try to justify Iraq to themselves, and fight a repeat disaster in the future.  That's about it.  The lives and limbs and minds and dollars spent on Iraq are already gone.

.


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## zeke (Mar 20, 2013)

Jimbo said:


> Surely Iraq should make a sizable contribution to rebuilding its own country? Wars fought by men and women in these modern times are dictated by the Liberal Left who are too busy kowtowing to the enemy and tying our hands behind our respective backs with politically correct RoE crap rather than letting us fight these conflicts as they should be fought, therefore prolonging any and all conflicts and costing us all dearly...Financially and in human suffering.....
> 
> YES, the Liberal Left is the way to go folks...especially if you're a self hating, finger pointing dipsh*t who has a death wish and wants to commit cultural suicide......
> All wars have to be paid for but it's the ruling elite who sit back and watch others die and get crippled for their stupid ideologies....
> At least conservatives are not brain dead enough to think that spending more than you earn is a good way of getting rid of your debt........(that was caused by over spending in the first place)....




You have a point you are trying to make? What might it be?

Or were you appaulding the Rethugs who wanted that war in Iraq so bad that they were willing to borrow every dollar spent on the war, with no plan to pay for it and absolutely no benefit to the American people.

That was really fuked up what the rethugs did. Wasn't it?


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## healthmyths (Mar 20, 2013)

C_Clayton_Jones said:


> > It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War
> 
> 
> 
> For thousands of American families who lost loved ones as a consequence of this failed and illegal war, the debt will never be paid off.



You realize the actual purpose of the Liberation of Iraq of  2003 lasted from 19 March 2003 to 1 May 2003, and signaled the start of the conflict that later came to be known as the Iraq War, which was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States. The invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, invaded Iraq and deposed the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion phase consisted primarily of a conventionally-fought war which concluded with the capture of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by American forces.
The objective was achieved .. so why did it cost 3,000 more lives and $600 billion ?
These COMMENTS are proven by Harvard studies to have contributed to the cost...
A Harvard study found here THE "EMBOLDENMENT EFFECT" asked:

        "Are insurgents in Iraq emboldened by voices in the news media expressing dissent or calling for troop withdrawals from Iraq?
        The short answer is YES!!! according to Radha Iyengar, a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in health policy
       research at Harvard and  Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at the university's Kennedy School of Government.

    STUDY ABSTRACT
    Are insurgents affected by information on US casualty sensitivity? Using data on attacks and variation in access to international news across Iraqi provinces,  we identify an emboldenment effect by comparing the rate of insurgent attacks in areas with  higher and lower access to information about U.S news after public statements critical of the war. We find in periods after a spike in war-critical statements, insurgent attacks increases by 5-10 percent.

The results suggest that insurgent groups respond rationally to expected probability of US withdrawal.
On a related note, the New York Times reports that the media aren't paying as much attention to Iraq as they used to:
Media attention on Iraq began to wane after the first months of fighting, but as recently as the middle of last year, it was still the most-covered topic.
Since then, Iraq coverage by major American news sources has plummeted to about one-fifth of what it was last summer, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
If the Harvard study is right, we may be looking at a virtuous circle: Less violence means less media coverage, which in turn means less violence, says the Wall Street Journal.  Perhaps one day we'll wake up to discover that America won the war in Iraq months earlier, but no one noticed because the reporters were all busy with other things.

Victory in Iraq Day, November 22, 2008

So when these comments were posted and published.. will any of you be honest enough to admit, the comments certainly did not make US troops happy
and DEFINITELY did as the Harvard study stated: "emboldenment".. do more killings of troops over 6 more years!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(D) *"The war is lost, the surge is not accomplishing anything "*  40,800 Google results

U.S. Rep. John Murtha(D) *"Our troops killed innocent civilians in cold blood,*
       39,600 Google results
Senator Kerry (D)  *"American soldiers going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children."* 92,500 Google results

Durbin (D) "must have been done by Nazis, Soviets"--action of Americans  in the treatment of their prisoners.  127,000 Google results
Senator Obama said  *"troops are air-raiding villages and killing civilians,"*  94,300 Google results

So Iraq deaths and cost continued because the above remarks HELPED ONLY the terrorists and they were emboldened to prolong!


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## DiamondDave (Mar 20, 2013)

trolling troll is still trolling


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

Ten Years After ....


"Ten years after it began, the Iraq war still haunts the United States in the nearly 4,500 troops who died there; the more than 30,000 American wounded who have come home; the more than $2 trillion spent on combat operations and reconstruction, which inflated the deficit; and in the lessons learned about the limits of American leadership and power. 



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/opinion/ten-years-after-the-iraq-war-began.html?hp&_r=0


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

healthmyths said:


> C_Clayton_Jones said:
> 
> 
> > > It Will Take 100 Years to Pay Off the Iraq War
> ...



The 21 day war is what Congress voted for - the 10 year war was Bush and Cheney's


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## whitehall (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.
> 
> An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans  148 years after the conflict ended.
> 
> ...



As I recall the Associated Press did everything in it's power to give aid and comfort to the enemy during the Iraq war. You couldn't tell the difference between the A.P. stories and Al-Jazeera. Democrats authorized the operation and then did everything they could to undermine the effort. Senate majority Harry Reid told America "the war is lost" just as the Troop surge was underway. Democrats snickered and joked about a full page ad (at a discount price courtesy of the Times) in the NY Times calling the US commander "betray-us" for no other reason than it rhymed with Petraeus.


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

Stupid ....


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

"In 2003, President George W. Bush and Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, used the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to wage pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein and a nuclear arsenal that did not exist. They promised a free and peaceful Iraq that would be a model of democracy and stability in the Arab world. While no one laments Saddams passing and violence is down from peak war levels, the country is fragile, with grave tensions between Sunnis and Shiites and Arabs and Kurds that could yet erupt into civil war or tear the state apart. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/opinion/ten-years-after-the-iraq-war-began.html?hp&_r=0


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## DiamondDave (Mar 20, 2013)

opinion pieces as 'proof' by trolling troll.. priceless


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

This one's for you timmy!

"Yet none of the Bush administration&#8217;s war architects have been called to account for their mistakes, and even now, many are invited to speak on policy issues as if they were not responsible for one of the worst strategic blunders in American foreign policy. In a video posted recently by the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Wolfowitz said he still believed the war was the right thing to do. Will he and his partners ever have the humility to admit that it was wrong to prosecute this war? 



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/opinion/ten-years-after-the-iraq-war-began.html?hp&_r=0


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## U2Edge (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.
> 
> An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans  148 years after the conflict ended.
> 
> ...



Which means the same could be said for any war, which essentially makes the statement irrelevant.


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## Politico (Mar 20, 2013)

I'll be dead.


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## U2Edge (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> Ten Years After ....
> 
> 
> "Ten years after it began, the Iraq war still haunts the United States in the nearly 4,500 troops who died there; the more than 30,000 American wounded who have come home; the more than $2 trillion spent on combat operations and reconstruction, which inflated the deficit; and in the lessons learned about the limits of American leadership and power.
> ...



         The United States spent more money bailing out Detroit than it spent on the Iraq war. Spending on both Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 13 years is only about 25% of what was spent on National Defense in total.

Also in terms of US casulaties, lets not forget these wars:

World War I  116,516 died; over 204,002 wounded
World War II 405,399 died; over 670,846 wounded
Korean War 36,516 died; over 103,284 wounded
Vietnam War 60,699 died; over 303,000 wounded

     Just take the year 1968 in Vietnam, 16,500 US troops died and over 80,000 were wounded.


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## drivebymedia (Mar 20, 2013)

U2Edge said:


> drivebymedia said:
> 
> 
> > Ten Years After ....
> ...



So Bush and Cheney had plenty of room for more killing?  

Do you think the same goal posts are in place for the 4 (four) Americans killed in Benghazi -  who are the Republicans' kill-flavor of the month?

Stupid ...


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## U2Edge (Mar 20, 2013)

drivebymedia said:


> U2Edge said:
> 
> 
> > drivebymedia said:
> ...



           What I'm saying is that the cost was far lower than in past wars launched to protect US security. The Planet, and global economy is dependent on energy supplies from the Persian Gulf and that is well protected now that Saddam's regime has been removed.


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## Jimbo (Mar 21, 2013)

whitehall said:


> drivebymedia said:
> 
> 
> > If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.
> ...



Oh, how true......And while your media and Demoprats gave comfort to the enemy, our useless lot over here in the UK were doing the same....Faking photographs of our troops supposedly urinating on captured Iraqis....Various newspapers and TV commentators alike putting to print and spreading lies and half truths just to make a story that makes us look like uncontrolled animals in combat and the enemy look like poor victims of the aggressive West.....It didn't then, and doesn't now, matter to these Left Liberal media shitheads that it is THEY who are responsible for the emboldenment of the enemy and prolonging the conflicts by their totally biased and thoughtless reporting....
I wonder how many people were murdered needlessly because of these morons?? Strange that when they were found out, nobody was bought to book....Much like Obama and his witch Clinton with the Benghazi affair......

The Liberal media are the "useful idiots" of the Islamic propaganda machine  But they're so stupid that they cannot see they are being manipulated


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