OBAMA CLAIMS IN SPEECH IRAQ CAUSED DEFICITS AND DEBT - TRY AGAIN DUMMY

During his completely uninspiring and inept Oval Office speech in which Obama announced the endo of combat operations in Iraq, he attempted to make a correlation between the cost of the Iraq war and the current economy especially the deficit and the debt. His claim was that the, "trillion," dollar price tag for the seven years of combat in Iraq was the cause of our deficit and debt.

First his figures are off. The cost of BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan total just over a trillion dollars. Iraq war cost as of the end of June 2010 was $ 709 billion dollars. A high cost but NOT a trillion dollars as Obama claims. In fact with the stroke of his pen Obama spent $ 767 billion dollars in a stimulus bill that will total 1.3 trillion after interest is added. So his first lie was the actual cost of the war.

Next his claim that Iraq caused the deficit and the debt. Following is a graph showing the actual CBO figures about the total deficit spending caused by the Iraq war. Notice especially how little deficit spending Iraq caused in 2009 and 2010, the two budget years of the Obama Presidency.



Now a little truth to set the record straight since the liar in chief chose to blame Iraq for deficit spending, borrowing and debt. From the administration of George Washington which began in 1789 until the end of the Presidency of George W. Bush in 2000, The United States borrowed 9 trillion dollars. In the 20 months since Obama took office the figure for money borrowed is a massive 3.5 trillion dollars.

If the Iraq war is the cause of the deficit as Obama claimed then how is it that in 2007 when the surge began and the cost of the Iraq war was at its highest was the deficit 160 billion dollars and now as combat operations are ending and the cost is at the lowest since we went to Iraq in 2003 do we now have a deficit of 1.4 trillion dollars ?

I have news for Barack Obama. Iraq is not the cause of our debt nor is it the cause of our deficit. The ridiculous spending and expansion of government by Obama is the cause of the federal economic disaster which is taking our country down a path to bankruptcy. Obama has expanded government more than every President before him COMBINED and Iraq had nothing to do with that government expansion which is bankrupting out country.

Obama constantly points his finger at Bush, Iraq, Republicans and even the Congress as a whole for the financial mess our Nation is in and the massive spending, deficits and debt. When he points his accusing finger at the problem, blaming others he need look no further than his mirror and take heed as to who his finger is pointing to when he looks at the reflection. It is THEN and only then that he can place real blame on someone to whom his finger is pointing.

Ken Taylor