Randall Hoven has a brilliant piece in the American Thinker blog: The Iraq War ends this month. The last combat brigade left August 19. Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began in 2003, will end August 31. September 1 marks the beginning of Operation New Dawn. Now that its over, what did the Iraq War cost? Here are examples of what some people Here are examples of what some people had been saying about Iraq War costs. It was under Mr Bush that the deficit spiralled out of control as we fought an unnecessary and endless $3,000bn war in Iraq James Carville, the Financial Times. The Iraq adventure has seriously weakened the U.S. economy, whose woes now go far beyond loose mortgage lending. You cant spend $3 trillion yes, $3 trillion on a failed war abroad and not feel the pain at home. Linda J. Bilmes and Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Washington Post. First, the facts. Nearly the entire deficit for this year and those projected into the near and medium terms are the result of three things: the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush tax cuts and the recession. The solution to our fiscal situation is: end the wars

Hoven wonders where Carville comes up with the $3 trillion figure. The correct answer to my question, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is $709 billion. The Iraq War cost $709 billion. So what are deficits with and without the Iraq war? This chart is nothing less than fabulous:

Here comes the slam dunk: Not only do the critics of the Iraq War make 300% errors in their numbers, but they also contradict themselves with abandon. When Obama was pushing he stimulus, he said, Then you get the argument, well this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. Whaddya think a stimulus is? (Laughter.) Thats the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) Thats the point. (Applause.) So spending $572B in two years stimulates an economy, but spending $554B over six years ruins one? In other words, spending is a stimulus only when Democrats spend. Spending goes nuts as soon as Democrats take over Congress, beginning with fiscal 2008. Hoven shows clearly that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with our current financial mess. Keep that chart handy the next time a liberal tries again to make the argument.