So the Iraq war (invasion) has cost about 360 billion dollars. We could have

[karlrschneider]

bought every single Iraqi family a house and a car -(it's about $15,000 for every PERSON there so far.)

This occured to me watching an old movie "Flashback" this evening when "Huey Walker" makes a similar observation WRT the Viet Nam "war."

I just thought it was a interesting bit of arithmetic.

Edit: was going by this
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

[MadMaddie]

1. And we could have rebuilt the Gulf Coast into a shining example

of America's strength and compassion.....sigh

[krispos42]

2. Ultimate cost: $2,267,000,000,000

Yup, two and a quarter trillion bucks.

The $2 Trillion Dollar War

A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come.

CHARLES M. YOUNG

When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would turn a profit, paying for itself with increased oil revenues. So far, though, Congress has spent more than $350 billion on the conflict, including the $50 billion appropriated for 2007.

But according to one of the world's leading economists, that is just a fraction of what Iraq will actually wind up costing American taxpayers. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, estimates the true cost of the war at$2.267 trillion. That includes the government's past and future spending for the war itself ($725 billion), health care and disability benefits for veterans ($127 billion), and hidden increases in defense spending ($160 billion). It also includes losses the economy will suffer from injured vets ($355 billion) and higher oil prices ($450 billion).

more

[karlrschneider]

3. I don't doubt that at all...I was just going by the figures I found at

http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

which surely doesn't cover a lot of 'indirect' expense.

[krispos42]

4. I just thought it was an interesting article

And I'm trying to promote it a little :-)