The Sorrows of Empire

Just to follow up on JL's excellent post below, the cost of the war is about to go up to $500 billion, as the Pentagon is asking for $100 billion more. That means, according to my rule of thumb, that this war has added about $5,000 onto my debt which I have to pay back with interest in the future. Not only will I and my children have to pay back this debt with interest, but I'll probably have to pay even more than that if the GOP continues to pass tax cut legislation. Every dollar which the upper economic eschalon is "relieved" from having to pay is another which somebody else has to pay, and that somebody is increasingly the middle class and the working poor.

What do I get for my $5,000? An Iraq free of weapons? I had that before the war. More warm feelings for the US around the world? To put it politely, no. A Jeffersonian democracy in the heart of the Middle East? Ha ha, that's a good one.

No, what I get as the maladministration puts $5,000 on my credit card (to be paid with interest to the holders of federal bonds, mostly the wealthy and foreign governments like China) is the sorrows of empire. I get to pour more and more money into a fighting force that increasingly doesn't protect me, but rather is out subjugating foreign lands on my "behalf". I get the hatred and distrust of millions of people around the world, because I am part of the country that invades, tortures, rapes, murders, and occupies muslim peoples. I get the joy of knowing that future terrorist attacks will certainly occur in this country, because this group of people wants the US to be feared and hated, not respected and admired, thoughout the world.

All that for only $5,000? With no end in sight? What a bargain.