Theories from the fringe

Even the most strident hawks in Washington could not have anticipated the stunning costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have cost American taxpayers more than $314 billion so far, to the extent that the Bush administration’s open-ended commitment has raised concerns, even among war supporters. At the rate the United States is spending, the military campaigns could become the most expensive operations in the past 60 years, far exceeding the costs of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. One nonpartisan Washington think-tank estimates that the cost of the war in Iraq could exceed $700 billion – a remarkable sum considering that polls show that a majority of Americans believe that the war wasn’t worth starting and feel that they are no safer today than they were before September 11, 2001. Such mind-numbing spending on a scenario with no discernible exit strategy is all the more troublesome because it