Cheney Gets a Heart But He's the Same Old Dick

I am sitting in the desert today largely because of the former vice president/Darth Vader like human named Dick Cheney who in my estimation is a cowardly douche bag who escaped time and again his chance to be a real war hero in Vietnam using every imaginable excuse to justify his draft dodging.  He is a first class a-hole and he...along with others under the Bush administration lied us into starting a war in Iraq that killed nearly 4500 soldiers and injured another 33,000 or more.  That tally still keeps going up, even though we have for all intents and purposes left Iraq.  Recently, Dick was quoted as saying about Obama:  "He has been an unmitigated disaster to the country."  Times are tough I realize for Dick...no one really give a shit about him anymore and he knows he has to say something provocative to get attention but damn is that all you got Dick?  Let look at your Iraq record.  According to the Brookings Institute, since the beginning of the war in 2003 there were 4487 soldier fatalities and 32235 injuries (as of January 2012), though neither of these figures account for the thousands of service members who later get treated at the VA for physical injuries, PTSD or some other mental health issues as a result of their military service.  The human toll is bad enough of course, but the Iraq War cost us treasure as well as blood.  Consider these statistics, from the Brookings Report and other sources:

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $1 trillion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through 2011.

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Lost and Reported Stolen - $6.6 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money earmarked for Iraq reconstruction, reported on June 14, 2011 by Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen who called it "the largest theft of funds in national history." (Source - CBS News) Last known holder of the $6.6 billion lost: the U.S. government.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion
Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

U.S. Annual Air-Conditioning Cost in Iraq and Afghanistan - $20.2 billion (Source - NPR, June 25, 2011)

U.S. 2009 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $7.3 billion as of Oct 2009

U.S. 2008 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion

U.S. Spending per Second - $5,000 in 2008 (per Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on May 5, 2008)
Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000

Now although the war ended in Iraq, thousands of  soldiers who left Iraq in December, are still in Kuwait...so the "peace dividend" has really kicked in yet.  It cost money to keep us here as well.  I won't go into Afghanistan -- that's for another post.  But if Obama is an "unmitigated disaster" to the country, what was the Bush-Cheney eight years?  Besides the war, that administration drove us from surplus to deficit by borrowing money to fight two wars, pay for a prescription drug plan that would be called "socialized medicine" if Obama did it, and gave a hugh tax cut to the rich.  Then they drove the country in to the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression.  And Dick says Obama is a disaster.  But truth be told, if you take the great disasters of our time ---say the Titanic merged with the Hindenburg coupled with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and Katrina...and you mixed them up in a big "disaster bowl"...well that would be the Bush-Cheney years.  An UN-mitigated "Super disaster" that rivals the great flood, the sinking of Atlantis, the destruction of Pompeii, etc, etc, etc.  Dick, you are the disaster love child of every disaster known to humankind.  You have a whole new heart, but it's just as cold as the one you had before.  Cold and calculating.  It's a shame another human being had to die to let you live.  But I wish no ill on you.  I hope you live another 20 years and you are constantly reminded each day of the disaster you inflicted upon this country for eight long years.  History will never vindicate you Dick.  And it will not be kind to you.   You will grow in irrelevancy as the days and years go by, but I will never forget what a true "dick" you were.  Live long...but not well.