Sure, I'll give you a helping hand, since you're are "kind of new here". The vast majority of which was at the hands of their own people. The only thing that kept them in line was a psychopathic mass-murderer of a tyrant in Saddam Hussein. His ability to keep the populous in such fear as to over-ride their desire to kill each other isn't really something to advocate. You don't favor Saddam and his tactics, do you? This was happening before we went in. So was this. Not trillions, plural. Now if you want to talk about real costs lets talk about how much medicare and medicade costs. Compared to those Iraq is just a drop in the bucket. The number that has been lost in 8 years is actually quite commendable. Iraq seems to be slowly showing itself worthy of our sacrifices. I can't say the same for Afghanistan. I will say that nation building is not a good policy. See above. I bet you are 100% on your football picks on Monday night.