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David Isenberg, a senior analyst with the Washington-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide background in arms control and national security issues. Hij schrijft in de Asia Times Online: 'It turns out the eventual cost of the war in Iraq will not be several hundred billion, but according to a new study at least a thousand billion dollars - US$1 trillion, in other words. This figure dwarfs any previous estimate by orders of magnitude. Given the projected cost of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, one might imagine that American taxpayers are now rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter while gasping for air. To get an idea of the economic black hole the Iraq war could become, it is useful to remember some of the past estimates given by the administration of President George W Bush. Recall, for example, when then-White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey suggested in 2002, six months before the war, that the mission could cost $100 billion to $200 billion, Bush fired him because his estimate was up to three times the $70 billion the administration estimated. Conservative columnist Paul Craig Robert wrote after the latest estimate: "Americans need to ask themselves if the White House is in competent hands when a $70 billion war becomes a $2 trillion war. Bush sold his war by understating its cost by a factor of 28.57. Any financial officer anywhere in the world whose project was 2,857% over budget would instantly be fired for utter incompetence.' Lees verder: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA14Ak01.html Of http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011606K.shtml Wat Nederland betreft: hoeveel kosten al die militaire missies in Afghanistan en waarop wordt bezuinigd om dit te kunnen financieren? Daarover hoor ik nooit iemand.