StudioGlyphic

When we finally add up all the expenses, this is going to be one whopper of a bill.

U.S. occupation coordinator Paul Bremer told the Washington Post that rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and kick-starting its economy would cost "several tens of billions."

This is on top of the billion a week we're already paying to keep the troops there.

Billion a week... billion a week. What could we pay for with a billion a week? Hey, you could solve all the states' economic woes for a billion a week. What else could we pay for with a billion a week? Well, with a tenth of this weekly expense we could pay for AmeriCorps and its Teach for America program.

I'm going to make up some numbers based on what little we know since no one in the Pentagon seems to want to release realistic projections:

150 billion for military during war
198 billion for military during occupation
62 billion for rebuilding Iraq
--
410 billion

Ouch! Well, at the end of the day, the important thing to remember is that we have dismantled a great arsenal of nuclear warhead-tipped intercontinental ballistic missles that were aimed at our major cities; in fact, they were actually ticking down to 0 when we rushed in and saved the day (and Jessica Lynch). Oh, wait, that's not true. Hmm. No chemicals either. Or biologicals. Er. No, no Al Qaeda. Eh. Wait, so what was this all for?