The price of freedom vs, Democrat pandering

Larry Kudlow:

Surprise, surprise. Having failed to puncture Gen. David Petraeus' story about great improvements on the ground in Iraq, liberals now say the cost of the Iraq war has somehow undermined the economy — even caused the current slowdown. What complete nonsense.

First point: The United States has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war. Sure, that's a lot of money. But the total cost works out to 1 percent of the $63 trillion GDP over that time. It's minuscule.

But here's the real question we should ask: What is the cost of freedom? While the Left refuses to acknowledge it, the U.S. homeland has not been attacked since Sept. 11, 2001. Right there is a big economic plus. Since President Bush went on the offensive and took the battle to Iraq, al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups have been utterly routed by U.S. forces. Tying the jihadists down on their home turf, and keeping them from mounting another coordinated attack on the United States, have benefited our economy incalculably.

Then again, the antiwar forces might want to recall John F. Kennedy's Inaugural address, in which he called on Americans to "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and the success of liberty."

Do these folks actually think 1 percent of GDP is too large a price, too heavy a burden? I sure hope not.

The leader of the "Iraq is sinking the economy" school is Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner who worked for President Clinton and now teaches at Columbia University. Even Mr. Stiglitz admitted to me in a recent interview that the United States can afford the Iraq war. His real agenda, however, is to cut Iraqi funds and defense spending in general in order to launch a Keynesian big-spending campaign here at home.

...

The money issue is just the Democrats latest excuse to lose in Iraq. It has multiple components. They think they can benefit by losing and use it to persuade Americans against the sue of force in the future. They also want the money that is being used to defeat the enemy and protect us from attack to be diverted to programs they think will buy votes for them. Obama's opposition to cynicism appears to be "just words."