The cost in lives and our money is too high no matter what. I heard on the radio today it will take 70 billion dollars to repair/replace all of our military equipment which has been damaged or lost while being used in Iraq.

"Iraq
At a Glance: Boosting Troop Levels in Iraq

by Guy Raz

    * There are 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. About half of them are part of brigade combat teams which are made up, largely, of what you might think of as "trigger pullers" or infantry soldiers.
    * Each brigade combat team consists of about 3,500 soldiers.
    * When the Pentagon talks about a troop increase, it thinks in terms of brigade combat teams — not in terms of individual troops.
    * There are 15 brigade combat teams in Iraq right now and one Marine expeditionary unit. For simplicity's sake, a Marine expeditionary unit can be thought of as roughly equivalent in size to an Army brigade combat team.
    * Currently, the entire U.S. Army has 39 brigade combat teams, though the numbers fluctuate. There are 15 combat teams in Iraq now, and three in Afghanistan, which leaves 21 elsewhere. President Bush would increase the long-term size of the U.S. force in Iraq by four or five combat teams. That means under his so-called "surge" plan, there would be as many as 20 combat teams in Iraq.
    * The Army will achieve this boost in troop levels through extensions and accelerations of troop deployments.
    * Once a year (usually around January or March), the Army rotates most combat teams out of Iraq and replaces them with fresh teams coming from the United States or from bases in Germany, South Korea or Japan.
    * But in order to stabilize troop levels in Iraq at 20 combat teams, plus other military personnel (which would amount to about 155,000 or 160,000 troops in total), the U.S. military will have to shift the way troops are currently deployed. That means slowing down departures from and speeding up deployments to Iraq.
    * In theory, soldiers are supposed to serve in Iraq for a year, then return to their home base for at least two years before their next deployment. In practice, many soldiers are getting just a one-year break between deployments to Iraq."