Quotable: “Iraq would be Switzerland”

If Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney had spent as much time plotting the toppling of Saddam Hussein as they did the toppling of Colin Powell, Iraq today would be Switzerland. -Thomas Friedman, today's New York Times column That's the sort of thing you get to write, I suppose, if you're the world's most influential pundit ...

If Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney had spent as much time plotting the toppling of Saddam Hussein as they did the toppling of Colin Powell, Iraq today would be Switzerland.

If Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney had spent as much time plotting the toppling of Saddam Hussein as they did the toppling of Colin Powell, Iraq today would be Switzerland.

-Thomas Friedman, today's New York Times column

That's the sort of thing you get to write, I suppose, if you're the world's most influential pundit on foreign affairs.

Iraq's GDP per capita was about $1,600 in 2003. Switzerland's was $33,600 in 2006 (these are purchasing power parity numbers). So, for the country to have become like Switzerland, Iraq's GDP per capita would have to have grown by over 2,000 percent in just three years.

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