How could we have been so wrong about war?

Sam Pizzo, Henderson

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

With all the time and lives lost and money loosely spent on the Iraq war, I can’t help but comment on an article about the war in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun. It was five years ago, on May 1, 2003, that President Bush declared major combat was over in Iraq as he addressed men and women aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

How could we have been so wrong in our assessment of the outcome of this war? Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared the initial cost would be $2 billion and the rest of the war’s cost would be paid for with Iraqi oil sales.

As we approach a trillion-dollar war bill, and more than 4,000 lives lost with another 28,000 wounded with no end in sight, I can’t help but wonder what we were thinking.

We all know that Iraq needs to be stabilized after we made such a mess of it. With Iran waiting on its heels for our departure so it can take over Iraq and invade Saudi Arabia, the rest of the neighboring countries will fall easily. If you think $4 for a gallon of gas is high, how about $6 or $7 a gallon for gas once Iran takes over, if we let it? What a mess.