War in Iraq - How Did We Get Stuck with the Bill?

In the opening debates regarding the imminent war with Iraq, the American people were concerned about the expense of such an endeavor and it appears their concerns were well founded. When the thought of going to war with Iraq started making the rounds in early of 2002, it was being hotly debated as to how we were going to fund such a war. The United States was still dealing with the rebuilding of Bosnia and was still dealing with an all out assault in Afghanistan. It was voiced by many people that it did not seem right that the United States should go into a country to liberate its people from a brutal dictator, only to flip the tab as well.

This was the sentiment of many because in times past whenever the United States went to war with another country it was always the American taxpayer that bore the brunt of the expense in rebuilding the country we defeated. This was even true in the case of Germany and Japan in World War II. Bosnia was the most recent conflict America had been involved in and we were also paying to rebuild what we had destroyed there.

The idea that helped swage the discontent of the American people was that the war would pay for itself. A plan was put forth in which when the United States had initiated a regime change that we would control the oil in that country. Not to take it over, but to manage it in such a way as to allow the Iraqi people to rebuild their country, feed their people, and pay for the war effort on the part of the United States.

I feel like I am the only one that remembers this stuff. Whatever happened to the plan that seemed like it could work? The estimated cost of the war in Iraq is estimated at nine billion dollars a month, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Why are the American citizens paying the full amount for this war and spiraling into a national debt crisis the likes of which we may not recover from.