In case you missed them, a few numbers on the Iraq war, lifted from Adam Shatz's piece in the LRB a few months ago:
$200 billion: initial estimate of the cost of the war by Bush economic advisor Larry Lindsey
$50-60 million: revised estimate proposed by Donald Rumsfeld
$2.4 billion: estimate for reconstruction costs, according to the head of the Agency for International Development, Andrew Nastios (including $700 for humanitarian relief)
$634 billion: amount approved by U.S. Congress so far for direct expenditures on the war
$285 billion: estimated lifetime veteran benefits for soldiers fighting in the war
$400 billion: estimated disability and social security costs for war veterans (assuming some fairly optimistic numbers about troop withdrawal and drops in casualty rates)
The issue of how the war has effected oil prices is complicated, but estimates on the global costs related to this wander into the low trillions.
Wow, did Rumsfeld get those numbers wrong or what...!
I triple-checked to make sure that was indeed an M and not B in his estimate . . .
I'm counting on the LRB's sharp editorial eye here, but the general character of a lie so bold that no one could actually believe it sounds like ole Rummy. Where is he now?
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