Lynn C. Woolsey: “before the invasion of Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was interviewed on television by George…”

“before the invasion of Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was interviewed on television by George Stephanopoulos. Mr. Stephanopoulos asked Secretary Rumsfeld what invading Iraq would cost. Rumsfeld answered, ``Under $50 billion.'' Mr. Stephanopoulos then replied that outside estimates say it would be up to $300 billion, to which Rumsfeld replied, ``Baloney.'' Well, it may have been baloney to Rumsfeld then, but he must eat his words now because the cost of the occupation has climbed to over $400 billion so far. And it's going to go up, up, and up because our leaders in the White House seem simply not to care how much this occupation costs. It's like that old joke: We could say they are spending like drunken sailors, but we wouldn't say that because that would be an insult to the sailors. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated yesterday that the occupation of Iraq could cost the taxpayers $1.9 trillion by the year 2017. Of that amount with over $500 billion going to just pay off the interest on the debt we're piling up, it is going to cost $500 billion. That's $500 billion that would fly out of our treasury and land in Japan and in China and the other countries that are lending us the money for the occupation. That is far more than what the SCHIP bill would cost us.”