Ah the good old days when the war was gonna cost $50 billion.

[denverbill]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/31/sproject.irq.war.cost/

<snip>

"This economy cannot afford to stand an attack," Bush said. "And I'm going to protect the American people. The economy's strong. It's resilient. Obviously, so long as somebody's looking for work, we've got to continue to make it strong and resilient."

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday that such a conflict could cost $50 billion to $60 billion -- the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
<snip>

Bush stressed that point in his comments to reporters. "I want to remind people that Saddam Hussein, the choice is his to make as to whether or not the Iraqi situation resolved peacefully. ... I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq," he said.

In September, Daniels disputed an estimate by Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey -- who has since left the White House -- that war with Iraq could cost $200 billion.
<snip>

Conrad also said that "despite this potential new expense, the Bush administration continues with its ill-fated economic policy of more tax cuts for the wealthy, bigger deficits for the American people and growing debt for our children and grandchildren."

The cost of the Persian Gulf war was shared by many countries in the U.S.-led coalition against Saddam. It is unclear how many nations would pick up some of the cost of another campaign.

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Remember the good old days, when the Iraq war was a preemptive attack to prevent Saddam from unleashing a barrage of chemical drones on us? Remember how it was all 'up to Saddam' and how hard Bush tried to avoid the war? That was before the war was all about 'liberating the Iraqi people'. That was back when the war would only cost $50 billion.

[Brucey]

1. This is the guy who said

he was against nation building, he was a uniter not a divider, his tax cuts would create jobs, he was certain Iraq had WMDs, he would rebuild and create a democracy in Afghanistan, etc.