Bush and his politicized Pentagon keep spinning or hiding the reality of what his invasion and occupation of Iraq are actually costing the American people.

In an excellent article by William Hartung in Asia Times he writes, "If we consider the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan together - which we might as well do, since we and our children and grandchildren will be paying for them together into the distant future - a conservative single-week estimate comes to $3.5 billion. Remember, that's per week!

"...what does that $3.5 billion per week actually pay for? And how would we even know? The Bush administration submits a supplemental request - over and above the more than $500 billion per year the Pentagon is now receiving in its official budget - to pay for the purported costs of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and for the global 'war on terror'.

"For example, to hear the howling of the white-collar warriors in Washington every time anyone suggests knocking a nickel off administration war-spending requests, you would think that the weekly $3.5 billion outlay is all "for the troops". In fact, only 10% of it, or under $350 million per week, goes to pay and benefits for uniformed military personnel. That's less than a quarter of the weekly $1.4 billion that goes to war contractors to pay for everything from bullets to bombers. As a slogan, insisting that we need to keep the current flood of military outlays flowing 'for Boeing and Lockheed Martin' just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

"You could argue, of course, that all these contracting dollars represent the most efficient way to get our troops the equipment they need to operate safely and effectively in a war zone - but you would be wrong. Much of that money is being wasted every week on the wrong kinds of equipment at exorbitant prices. And even when it is the right kind of equipment, there are often startling delays in getting it to the battlefield, as was the case with advanced armored vehicles for the US Marine Corps."

And what are we paying private mercenary companies like Blackwater that are not answerable to any law, courtesy of Bush and his former flunkie, L. Paul Bremer? 

Hartung writes: "...individual employees of private military firms make up to 10 times what many US enlisted personnel make, or as much as $7,500 per week.we have nearly $100 million per week going just to the armed cohort of private-contract employees operating there.

"Layered in are requests for new equipment that will take years, or even decades, to build and may never be used in combat - unless the Iraq war really does go on for another century, as Republican presidential nominee John McCain recently suggested."

Joseph Stiglitz, eminent economist, estimates that Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq, because of economic and societal impact, will end up costing $3 trillion or more.  As he points out, " "This war is the first war ever that's been totally financed by borrowing, by deficits,"

Bush, McCain and their cohorts have inflicted terrible economic damage on the American people for generations to come with their pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq based on lies.

And impeachment is still off the table.