Obama Speech Perpetuates Iraq War Cost Myth to Hide His Own Fiscal Irresponsibility

Blaming deficits on the cost of the war is a LIE!

There are two big lies that the left tells about the Iraq war. The first is that the U.S. caused the deaths of one million innocent Iraqis. There has never been any credible source that could explain where they got that number. They must have picked one that sounded really, REALLY awful.

The second big lie is that the Iraq war cost $3 trillion and exploded the U.S. budget deficit under President Bush. Randall Hoven, writing at the American Thinker explodes that myth. The Congressional Budget Office shows that the total cost of 7 years of the Iraq war was approximately $709 billion.


Mark Tapscott, at the Washington Examiner goes on to point out that Obama spent more than $100 billion more on his 2009 stimulus bill than the entire Iraq War. Since that bill passed, Obama has exploded the federal deficit with one big spending bill after another. Looking back at the Bush years, Tapscott  points out that Bush spent more on education during the Iraq war years than he did on the war.

Obama Repeats Version of the Big Lie in Oval Office Address

At least Obama had the good sense not to use the $3 trillion figure in his Oval Office speech on the end of combat operations in Iraq on Tuesday. But he did go on to take a swipe at former President Bush and make the phony claim that spending on the war exploded the deficit and shortchanged the American people:

OBAMA: Unfortunately, over the last decade [ed: when BUSH was President], we’ve not done what’s necessary to shore up the foundations of our own prosperity. We spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits. For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk.

Total bunk as usual. The Fox News Special Report Panel takes it apart:



As Charles Krauthammer points out: "the cost of the whole Iraqi operation is less than half of what the budget deficit will be this year!"

Ah, but the left won't let a little something like truth get in the way of a good lie. Expect them to keep repeating it whenever convenient while hoping you don't have the facts any more than they do!