Linda Bilmes

War is a costly and destructive activity not to be undertaken frivolously and unprepared. Alas, the Bush administration, cheered on by the media and a vengeful public, marched to war. The list of what the US could have paid for with the money it wasted on war is heartbreaking. The gist of this book has already been published in the authors' brave paper some years ago. This is basically an extended walk-through of all the assumptions the authors made to arrive at their number, a task quite unnecessary as the political attacks upon the paper relied upon bad faith and willful ignorance, Just one assumption I find a hard-nosed economist would not agree on: To value an Iraqi life as much as an American one. They should have based the Iraqi lifetime value on Iraq's economic potential.

The book then turns to the bad treatment of US Veterans who receive but stingy treatment for their sacrifice. While the accusations are shameful, this is not a novel element of the Iraqi War. From Washington's Valley Forge on, the US has treated its soldiers badly. The Civil War slogan "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight" is still pertinent. While the US is very vocal in honoring their soldiers, actual care lags far behind. As the US upper class does not seek military careers, the army recruits among the less fortunate. Service for the poor rapidly become poor services. The Bush administration's penchant for corruption only aggravates an existing problem.

Overall, the two messages, that wars are expensive and soldiers deserve proper care, are important and should be given more consideration. I am not sure if their combination in one book is a good choice, as it mixes strategic decisions about politics and wars with instrumental ones. This lessens the impact of the book.… (más)