It's not that much money, really.

April 2003

"Well, in terms of the American taxpayers contribution, this is it. The rest of the rebuilding of Iraq will be done by other countries who have already made pledges, Britain, Germany, Norway, Japan, Canada, and Iraqi oil revenues, eventually, when it's up and running and there's a new government that's been democratically elected, will finish the job with their own revenues. They're going to get in $20 billion a year in oil revenues. But the American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this."

-- Andrew Natsios, USAID Administrator

vs.

August 2006

The US has spent $437 billion on Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the war on terror since 2001. The Congressional Research Service estimates conservatively that we might spend another $371 billion on these operations through 2016.

It's too bad this whole thing will cost us 475 times more than expected. So much for fiscal responsibility.