Counting the costs

Eleven years into the War Without End, about the only metric that seems to occasionally resonate with the public are cumulative casualty figures... and most of the time, those are fading from view, as well.

Tragic as those are--so many young, promising lives snuffed out on behalf of a contorted, confused foreign policy--they are but the most visible cost incurred by a nation that not only jumped well off the tracks the last decade, but continues to accelerate into disaster.   (click to enlarge)

And it seems all this effort and expense merely purchased a way-back machine taking us right back to 1979... how's that Arab Spring working out for ya?

(Chart H/T: Zero Hedge)