The number of Iraqis killed in this war?

Yesterday, I was watching the Sunday morning replay of "The McGlaughlin Group" (hey, I was relaxing and taking in all the news programs on a Sunday morning, sue me) when Mr. McGlaughlin showed statistics that 100,000 Iraqis died in this Iraq War, since 2003 since "W" and Co. began it all (arbitrarily).

I took note, obviously.

At the time I remember thinking two things.

First, "that's a lot of people to die" and second, "I wonder if I/we can trust that number."

Well it seems it's a good thing I was paying attention.

Check this out.

A report out today I just saw on the After Downing Street blog (AfterDowningStreet.org) tells the following:

"The former head of the UN’s chief nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian Wednesday that those who launched the war in Iraq were responsible for killing a million innocent people and could be held accountable under international law."

A million.

A million Iraqis killed in this war since 2003.

Hmmm.

Sure gets you to thinking.

And I have to tell you, I'm inclined to trust the former head of the UN's chief nuclear agency before I do right-winger, flag-waving John McGlaughlin. He seems to always be sticking his right-wing opinions on his show lately, in particular. (Or maybe I just wasn't either paying attention or that aware, before now).

With 4,385 American Soldiers being killed to date, this 100,000--or a million--Iraqis killed, 2 to 4 million Iraqis displaced (McGlaughlin figures yesterday, again) and $700 billion American dollars spent so far on this debacle/quagmire/clusterpuck, how can anyone conclude that attacking Iraq in 2003 was a good idea? (Even Pat Buchanan has said--several times--that it was a bad idea).

But they do.

Tragic in so many ways.

And we're still deeply engaged, with no end in sight.

Our spending total

According to the McGlaughlin Group this evening and the figures they show, the United States' total taxpayer outlays since March 2008 for the financial crisis we're in is 5.32 trillion dollars.

Holy cow, people.

All of a sudden, we're talking about a ton of money.

Are we sure this isn't going to cause inflation?

LBJ's deficit spending for the Vietnam War sure did.