Where Bush draws the line on Iraq costs: education benefits for veterans

[struggle4progress]

Last updated May 13, 2008 2:32 p.m. PT
JOHN YOUNG

... This military engagement -- America's second costliest in real dollars -- has had scant cost controls. And why should it? It's been waged off-budget, and essentially on credit.

It's only when people return from battle that we become sticklers for decimal points ...

Bush says the benefits package shouldn't be tied to supplemental military funding. And he says it costs too much: $51 billion over 10 years. That sounds expensive, yes. That is, if you stand it up beside the Tyrannosaurus that is the supplemental bill for Iraq and Afghanistan: $195 billion for not even one whole budget year.

By contrast we're talking about $2 billion a year for veterans who have laid it on the line for what's adding up as a $2 trillion enterprise ...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/362916_youngonline14.html

[spindrifter]

1. Why would * support a veterans' benefits

package? The money doesn't go into the pockets of his friends and relatives. It doesn't get distributed by a no-bid contract award winner.