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Perhaps Congress, courtesy of American taxpayers, is being too generous to the Bush administration. The cost of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in monetary terms alone, exceeds half a trillion dollars. That is direct cost, and does not include routine expenditure. It amounts to over $1,700 per person, a considerable sum.
Two years ago the General Accounting Office (GAO), on auditing expenditure in Iraq, determined over $9 billion had "disappeared" through over-payments for mundane items, non-existent aid and succour to the people, and the building of roads, hospitals and clinics that had not materialised. There was a public outcry at the finding.
Now, again, the GAO has found nearly $6 billion has gone in fabricated expenses of aid given to Pakistan in fighting the Taliban. This time, though, possibly to the relief of the Pentagon, there is no public outcry. Maybe it is a case of once bitten, twice shy.
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