US lawmaker Blames Recession on the Iraq War

Most in the US are linking the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the declining housing market as the key factors that has taken the US to the brink of a recession. But could there be another explanation for it?

John Yarmuth, Democrat from Kentucky, thinks otherwise, saying the cost of the Iraq war, "is not only linked to our economic skid, but is a leading cause of it." The US currently spends $12 billion a month on the war.

If that $12 billion were pumped into the US economy put to use elsewhere - including in repairing the mortgage mess, perhaps the country would not be facing a recession. Not many have considered that this large expenditure could have long term effects on the heath and stability of the US economy