VILSACK SPEECH AND THE HIDDEN, CONSTANT COST OF WAR

In his last "Condition of the State" speech Gov. Vilsack urged the legislature to pass a resolution calling for a prompt end to the adventure in Iraq. He spoke of the impact on the Iowa and its communities.

At about the same time the General Accounting Office was estimating that just the care of disabled and disturbed veterans over their lifetimes will be from $350B to $850B, not including other veterans already in the system or to be placed in the system from other adventures. Of course, if history is any teacher, the Gov't will continue to redefine who gets benefits, shrink the benefit and slow play the recipients. Still, it's a whopping debt we owe our own sons and daughters. I surely didn't hear anybody...and I mean anybody....talking about this before we went in.

That's before the States do their part and that total doesn't include what some of the rehabilitated vets will cost their own private insurance carriers if they are deferred or refused by the VA.

And, of course, it doesn't begin to cover the human suffering.

Maybe we could have done the cost-benefit analysis better if we had clearly defined the specific, measurable goals we were trying to achieve.