The Iraq War: Five Years Later
The Iraq War: Five Years Later – by Catherine Morgan -(cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)
Personally, I have always been against war and violence of any kind. I didn’t even let my children play with toy guns when they were young (not even water guns). Now I find myself worried that my son or daughter could actually be drafted someday. [Over a year ago I did a post addressing my concerns over a possible draft or mandatory military, it still seems very relevant today.] So yes, I am one of the people that are against this war in Iraq, and I have been since day one. And I really hate that we are now talking about the fifth anniversary of this horrific war. What I find myself wondering the most about today is, there seems to be no end in sight and five years from now we might be talking about the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war. How many people have to die? When will ‘man’ realize that war is not the answer?
People have been saying that we aren’t talking much about the Iraq war anymore, and I suspect it is because of the attention our tumbling economy is getting. I wonder? Has it occurred to anyone that $275 million a day spent in Iraq could be adding to the trouble we find our economy in? The National Priorities Project has a running tab of the cost of the Iraq war…
Let’s take a look at how this five year anniversary of the war in Iraq is being reported by the news and on the blogs.
Associated Press: Iraq War Disappears as TV Story.
Remember the war in Iraq?
The question isn’t entirely facetious. The war has nearly vanished from TV screens over the past few months, replaced by stories about the fascinating presidential campaign and faltering economy.
Yet Americans continue to fight and die there, five years after the war started in March 2003.
“It’s no big secret that this is a war that everyone has grown tired of,” said CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, whose documentary “On Deadly Ground: The Women of Iraq” is airing several times this month. “Iraqis are aware of it. They think it’s a story that people are tired of hearing about. That’s what makes our job more crucial.”
ABC News will draw attention to the war this week with the fifth edition of its “Where Things Stand” series, polling and interviewing Iraqis about what is happening in their country.
The War In Iraq – Five Years of Cultural Fallout
Since U.S. forces began bombarding Iraq in 2003, the impact of the war has been felt far beyond the battlefields.
From AFP – Iraq: A Three Trillion Dollar War?
The war in Iraq has already cost the United States more than 400 billion dollars by the most conservative tally, but the total bill could surpass three trillion dollars, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
By the Pentagon’s count, 527 billion dollars were allocated from September 2001 through December 2007 to finance the war against terrorism, including 406 billion dollars for Iraq.
The Congressional Budget Office reported in October 2007 that Iraq accounts for 421 billion, or 70 percent, of the 602 billion dollars that the Congress has authorized for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The CBO estimates that the total cost of the two wars could reach 2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 including interest on the debt, with Iraq accounting for 70 percent of the spending, or 1.68 trillion dollars.
But even that pales by comparison with estimates put forward by Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard professor, in a book called “The Three Trillion Dollar War: the True Cost of the Iraq Conflict.”
This is from a post by Connie at Connie Talk. She has done a post on the Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War.
Yesterday, March 15th, 2008, marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. To be honest, I don’t really understand why so many people call it an “anniversary”: a word that most often indicates something to celebrate. But, regardless, we have been occupying the Middle East in wartime for exactly five years now. There were thousands of people who showed up in Los Angeles, California, yesterday to march the length of Hollywood Boulevard.
Thanks to hard-working YouTuber’s, you can get a peek at the protests from many corners of the Earth without leaving your computer chair.
Check out Connie at Connie Talk, where she has videos of protests that took place all over the world.
What the bloggers are saying…
Wash Park Prophet: The Iraq War Five Years Later
The Political Inquire: The Iraq Debate Must Continue
PoliJam Blog: Clinton Memo Slams Obama on Iraq War’s 5th Anniversary
The Kicker: The Psychological Damage to Soldiers Caused by the Iraq War
So, what do you think? Did you originally support the war? Or were you against it? How are you feeling about it now? Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Has the Iraq war reduced the chances of terrorism in America? Do you feel safer because of the Iraq war? Do you want our next president to get us out of Iraq? Do you think it is possible to get out of Iraq? Do you think the $275 million being spent each day on the Iraq war, is contributing to the serious economic problems we are facing today?
These are just a few of the questions I wonder about, let me know how you feel in comments.
Comments
Comment from Pamela Lyn
Time: March 17, 2008, 8:02 pm
(sorry about that. I hit the enter key and the post saved)
After Colin Powell’s argument to the UN I, too, gave in to my fears that Saddam would attack another one of his neighbors. However within a few weeks, when no WMDs were found I began to suspect that we’d been had. Even then, I still tried to give Bush & Co the benefit of the doubt and think that even they weren’t so corrupt as to start a war for oil. I was wrong.
There is documented evidence that Bush & Cheney were discussing an invasion of Iraq prior to 9/11. Their ties to the Saudis and the oil industry are also well documented. The fact that their friends at Haliburton, KBR, Dynecorp and Blackwater are making billions is undeniable. The Bush admin’s total disregard for the US Constitution is a disagrace. And, the fact that they have not been impeached makes me question the American people.
At this point, I am left in complete agreement with authors Naomi Wolfe and Naomi Klein. Through the use of “shock doctrine” principles the neocons have turned our republic into a pseudo-fascist state. And no matter who wins in November, we may discussing this on the war’s sixth anniversary
Comment from Marine
Time: October 19, 2008, 3:42 am
ok does anyone know how the deppression started? It started when people started getting to deep into credit problems and had to go into bankruptcy. (ask your kids in high school its the longest course i had to take) Now that simply states one thing. When money isnt in a consant flow around the nation the economy takes a dive sometimes minor (like this one look at history trust me you will feel shepish when you realise how much people have over complained about this one) or major (like the big one from 1928 till about 1934). Its simple economics, ask your kids they take this in class, why dont you here to many teachers complaining about the economy isnt to hard to understand. This will pass the world is going through a bad financial spell right now so stop complaining. If anything the wars have been pumping money back into the system, yeah only a few companys are profiting but thats because all the stuck ups wont get on the cash wagon the individuals all over the world are reasonsible for the financial crisis not President Bush or blackwater or any individual entity but the whole economy as its self has screwed the pooch on this one.
No there wernt any WMDs but we did find things that would have justified even the “fuck the troops” (yes there is a group called that and yes they hate marines like me) to join the war band. I have personaly taken pictures of tourture chambers reminiscent of those saw movies, basements filled with blood of Iraqis, forms in iraq Arabic listing the names of rapist, terrorist, poliical assasians, and what there salarys were in a palace i had to sleep in. This guy deserved to die and the things i listed above are grated compared to what some of my late friends found in the north and around Bagdahd. So yeah no WMds but we still liberated a people that are gratefull for the most part for the liberty my dead brothers gave these people. So yeah is it still not justified all because ther wernt WMDS?
Do any of you know what facisim is? its no liberty at all, and total financial control of economic resources related to war. (Nazis were a partial facist state) Call the country i fight for a neo-facist state again and there will be hell to pay. As for not allowing your children to play with guns as kids? I dont know what to say, being a parent my self i understand where your comming from, fear of gun volence involving my children gives me night mares every night and more so because ive seen what they can do. However i still think its a bad idea it limits the imagination, and it causes unneeded fear of a tool, a device that growing up was sometimes the only way my family ate that night (but i guess gun use differs from those who have to break there backs for a living and those that work at a law firm or something). Perhaps teaching your children about the dangers of guns and the difference between toys and the real thing should be infsised more than wonton fear. My kids wll never touch a gun unless im there to guide them on the importance of safely handling a fire arm and what to do if they findone.
If i have offended you just remember most of your statements have done nothing more to me than realise that my friends and my brother and 3 cousins sacrifice for what we feal is right was totaly in vain.
Comment from Pamela Lyn
Time: March 17, 2008, 7:48 pm
I have to admit that I initially bought the bill of goods sold by the Bush administration that Saddam posed an immediate threat. I never trusted Bush & Cheney and I never bought the lie that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11. However, after Colin Powell went before the UN arguing that there was evidence of WMD in Ira