Another balloon payment needed to support the Iraq war. Get out your checkbooks to pay 160 billion dollars.

The U.S. armed services have requested a $160 billion supplemental appropriation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the remainder of fiscal year 2007--a staggering amount that, if approved by the Defense Department, may hasten the showdown between resurgent congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over the budget-busting War on Terror.

The request--which will likely include all costs related to the war on terrorism--far surpasses the $94 billion supplemental authorized earlier this year to fund the ongoing wars as well as hurricane recovery in the Gulf and is nearly double the $82 billion Iraq war supplemental outlay of 2005.

You know I do not mind paying a little extra for a quality product, but this Iraq thing appears to be the equivalent of an old Chevy Blazer that somebody towed out of a river and is trying to pass of as "good as new". We know that Iraq is getting worse as time progresses. We know that the majority of the people in Iraq do not want us there any longer.

Our money will not purchase a shiny new democracy that will be our ally in the Middle East alongside Israel, and occasionally Saudi Arabia. Our money will not purchase us a worthwhile product. And I cannot help but wonder what amazing things that much money might accomplish here at home? How many children could be fed? How many veterans could be rehabilitated? How many homeless could be given another chance to regain their lives? Think of the good.

160 billion dollars is an incredible amount of money. But it will not win the war in Iraq. There is no amount of money that will do that for us. Nor are there enough lost American lives that will accomplish it either.