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From the "I told you so" file: no Iraq peace dividend

MSNBC finally admits what I've been telling you for months--doubling down in Afghanistan will eliminate any savings netted from our pseudo-withdrawal from Iraq:

Even as U.S. troops return from Iraq, many eventually will find themselves headed to Afghanistan. And the peace dividend that accrues with the end of the Iraq war probably will be eaten up by the intensified U.S. effort in a nation known as the graveyard of empires.

The cost of the Afghanistan war will fall to American taxpayers who already have seen billions laid out to save the crippled U.S. financial sector even as they cope with the severest economic recession in more than half a century. Obama will need all his political finesse to put Americans at ease with spending billions more for a war in a distant land.


Better late than never.

Comments

Brian Shields said…
At this point, it seems like victory in Afghanistan is something that we must accomplish, because failing makes us just as equal to the other empires that tried and failed.

It seems like proving them wrong will prove them right, in the end. I mean, it's not like all signs point to that eventual outcome anyway.
Tyler Nixon said…
Saddest thing about this is the continued burden this puts on the troops and military families, many of whom have endured so much already and need a break.

At least Iraq has become somewhat less bloody for the soldiers. Now undoubtedly Afghanistan escalation will see increased troop injuries and deaths.
Brian Shields said…
Afghanistan has become more dangerous as of late. I was listening to the Howard Stern Show, which two of their cast members who went to Afghanistan on a USO tour with a bunch of comedians and said they could not go back to the same areas again because it was unsafe. Their next trip would have to be in a different are, if not a different country.

How often do you get to hear about world affairs on that show?
Anonymous said…
Americans are leaving Iraq a 5th world country. Sunnis (and the brains have left). Tent
cities and poverty, no health care reigns all over the country.

It is now a Shia Nation...signs in public places have women wearing burkas. Some cities have no schools, the hospitals are not all in operation, there is vast unemployment..oh and women are selling children...ending up in the worldwide child slave market.
Great job brownies!

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