Diabolical Madness

This is from Juan Cole:

"The argument about whether Cheney/Bush went into Iraq over petroleum is not interesting. Of course they did, one way or another. The question is what exactly they thought they were doing about Iraq's petroleum. I would argue that they threw public resources (perhaps as much as two trillion dollars worth when all is said and done) to secure profits for private companies. Otherwise, the US public will never, ever realize the sort of savings from the development of Iraqi petroleum that would compensate them for the blood and treasure they have spent in Iraq. (Not to mention the opportunity costs of squandering so many resources on a quagmire, when the public investment could have been put to much better uses)."

I'm not an econ wizard, but I do know that if you're gonna spend a Trillion dollars on anything, there better be a nice ROI. If you're spending a Trillion dollars and in return you get blood and hatred and endless war, well folks there lies a diabolical madness. "Public Money/Private Gain." Should be the new Republican tag line.