Perseverance

Major General William Caldwell IV writes in this morning's Washington Post,

As the Iraqi people labor to build a country based on human rights and respect for all citizens, they are moving from the law of the gun to the rule of law. Violence will increase before life gets better. Those who know that freedom and democracy offer more hope than anarchy will not give up.

Regardless of what academics and pundits decide to label this conflict, hundreds of thousands of brave Iraqi soldiers, police officers and civil servants will continue to go to work building a free, prosperous and united Iraq. And every day more than 137,000 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen will lace up their boots, strap on their body armor and drive ahead with our mission to support these courageous Iraqis.

General Caldwell is the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

Comments

[ny patriot]

So Mr. self-proclaimed libertarian, it's been estimated that Pres. Bush is going to request additional spending expednitures in excess of $100 billion for the war in Iraq from the new congress for next year.

It's been estimated that we have already spent over $600 billion thus far in hard currency alone since the inception of the war, not to mention unofficial estimates of a cost exceeding a trillion dollars on quid-pro-quo costs (like the impact on the global price of oil, lifetime disability payments - in the form of medical and financial outlays - to wounded troops returning from combat, etc.) As someone whose ideology professes a limit on government expenditures and the further issuances of national debt, how comfortable are you exactly so far with the cost to the U.S. taxpayer for this war? It sure looks like one hell of a boondoggle from where I sit.

SIX HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS. Think about that. Think about all the underfunded programs for which I'm sure you are so happy about that could have been taken care of with all that money. Social Security. Medicare. NASA. Hell, add in overhauling the military if you want. But at what point are you going to say "boy that's a whole lot of money being poured down the drain."

Just wondering.