Two trillion dollars blown in Iraq – just a footnote?

Perhaps I shouldn't take Robert Samuelson's column in the upcoming issue of Newsweek too seriously. Its primary purpose, after all, is to cover Samuelson's own ass ...

A $2 Trillion Footnote?

The costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have far exceeded almost all estimates, but that's much less important than it seems.

Anyone who practices deadline journalism is bound to find much to regret--things you wish you'd said (or hadn't said) and words, arguments and attitudes that, with hindsight, seem poorly chosen. Which brings me to my September 2002 column, "A War We Can Afford." As the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, some readers have suggested that I revisit that column and confess to error. Let me now take up their invitation, because today's ferocious war debate raises many of the same issues.

Yes, that column made big mistakes. The war has cost far more than I (or almost anyone) anticipated.

But far be it for Samuelson to really admit that his 2002 column was both wrong (he wrote: "A possible war with Iraq raises many unknowns, but "can we afford it?" is not one of them. People inevitably ask that question, forgetting that the United States has become so wealthy it can wage war almost with pocket change") and deeply immoral (who the hell bases a decision to go to war on the bottom line?).