Iraq Occupation: "a prescription for chaos and confusion"

You have read this before on State Street, but some things are worth repeating ad infinitum.

The President vetoed the Iraq spending bill, which contains a call for setting a deadline on troop withdrawal. He called it a “prescription for chaos and confusion.” Exactly how much more chaos and confusion there could be mystifies simple minds such as mine.

The President operates from the grand fallacy that the blood and treasure already spent in Iraq justifies spending more blood and treasure in the slim hope that everything will turn out right in the end. Of course, the Iraqi’s want us out too, but that is of little concern to Mr. Bush, a man of conviction or foolish stubbornness depending on your point of view.

This is the sunk cost fallacy pure and simple. What the President should be doing is weighing future benefits against future costs rather than rationalizing sunk blood and treasure. This is the sort of thing taught in Finance 101. President Bush, the owner of a prestigious Harvard Business School MBA degree, seems to have either skipped or slept through the class.

Let’s face it, the Iraq Occupation has no end given the now sketchy objectives we are trying to achieve. Thus, it has no justification when viewed from a hardheaded business viewpoint.

Oh well, it is better to be well versed in Armageddon, the Apocalypse, and the Rapture when meditating on chaos and confusion. I am sure the President received an A+ in that class.