The Bush administration yesterday admitted the federal budget deficit this year would be 50% higher than previous forecasts as it emerged that the Iraq war had so far cost the Pentagon $48bn (£30bn).
The White House said the US would end the year with a record $455bn budget shortfall, up from previous estimates of $304bn. Over six years, the deficit is now forecast to reach $1.9 trillion, up from an earlier estimate of $1.4 trillion.
::snip:: (That's not the worst of it, this is what caught my eye)
The admission came a day after President George Bush, whose malapropism has spawned dozens of websites and books, uttered one of his most extraordinary gaffes yet when he told reporters that the US had invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had refused to allow weapons inspectors in.
Pressed during an Oval Office press conference on the now infamous assertion that Iraq had sought to buy uranium ore in Africa, he said: "The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons programme? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in.
"And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region."
(more)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,999243,00.htmlSo, Shrub, when the entire world was begging you for two more months to do inspections in...
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