Too much money

The Iraq war has cost an estimated 450 billion dollars thus far (Iraq War). Now this is independent of money spent elsewhere, i.e. homeland security, i.e. Afghanistan, i.e. an estimated total cost of 1.9 trillion dollars to finish the work in Iraq. I don't know if it was prudent or intelligent to spend this money for a war in Iraq, but that money could have done so much work in other places.

A billion dollars? That's nothin'.

Also: Josh White writes in The Washington Post: "The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.6 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts' 'hidden costs'. Edit: Saw this same statistic published in the Citizen-Times (Asheville), which noted that it translates to over $ 20,000 per family.