The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the eventual cost of the Iraq war at $2 trillion. I repeat, $2 trillion.

The money is spent. We cannot undo history.

I write this in the hope we can at least learn from the Iraq experience. Consider the following questions as a stimulus to learning:

What if we had instead invested $2 trillion into a "man-on-the-moon" kind of national initiative of achieving energy self-sufficiency?

What if it no longer mattered to us if militant Muslims took over Saudi Arabia and its oil fields? - see above.

What advances in education, science, safe bridges, health initiatives against pandemics, etc., might have been funded instead with $2 trillion?

In short, How might we have best invested $2 trillion so that our country, in the end, would be measurably more secure?

What truly makes a country strong and safe?

Our $2 trillion investment in Iraq will likely yield these returns: instability in Iraq, further radicalizing of Muslim extremism, the elimination of Iraq as a strong deterrent to Iran, international erosion of respect for America, vast human suffering and the creation of prime recruitment territory for al-Qaida.

That appears to be our return on investment. That's what we'll get for our $2 trillion. Pretty paltry compared to what $2 trillion might have yielded. But we rushed in because we were afraid, and therefore easily deceived.

I frame the issue in this way in the hope that we might take a deep breath of thoughtfulness the next time fear and the incessant pounding of war drums panics us into a quagmire.

I can hear the sound of those war drums in the distance, coming closer and becoming louder. Only this time the proposed target is Iran. I hope this time we in this country can keep our heads.

Tim Schrag

Bloomington

Do you agree?