Hey, remember that time we went to war with the army we had---not the army we might want or wish to have at a later time

Kennedy School of Government at Harvard places the all-in costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the $4 trillion to $6 trillion range when all is said and done with "the largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid."  Yep, the smartest thing George Bush ever did was invade Iraq.

So how does a very fiscally responsible, very conservative administration embark on such policy?  Easy answer.  They told the public that the war would cost $50 billion and "go relatively quickly. Weeks rather than months."-- Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003.

That it would largely pay for itself  "from oil revenues, recovered assets, international trade, direct foreign investment…”  -- Donald Rumsfeld, March 27, 2003.

That Iraq was a country that could "really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."-- Paul Wolfowitz, March 27, 2003.

It would be a "cakewalk."  That's what we were told.  That's what we were led to believe.  Nothing they told us turned out to be true.  Every bit of it was a lie told by madmen with a psychopathic hunger for war.  Yet the one thing we can never ever do in America is call the people who instituted this policy fiscally irresponsible and big government spenders.  Oh no, that label is solely reserved for Democrats or people who oppose the Very Serious, Very Fiscally Prudent, Very Conservative GOP.  That's just how it is.