THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

The US -- is spending $720 Million Dollars a day in Iraq... That is $400,000 a minute..

Which would buy...
84 New Elementary Schools, or
12,748 New Classroom Teacher, or
1,153,525 Free school lunches, or
health insurance for 423,529 school children,or
6,482 affordable housing units

CONGRESS WILL SOON TAKE ACTION ON ANOTHER $100+ BILLION FOR THE WAR... CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN NOW AND ASK THEM NOT TO FUND THE WAR.. 202-224-3121 :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :redface: :redface:

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

This makes me think back to a time 6 1/2 years ago when the US was shocked and made to feel more vulnerable than ever in my lifetime. There was many a chorus shouting for the government to find those responsible for the horror and take every step, reasonable and unreasonable, to insure no more harm befell any American on American soil. There was a national cry to "make them pay" whomever they were, for the anguish, damage and pain. It was loud, it was constant, and it was everywhere.

The focus for all blame fell upon the Mideast. Those who administered the terror came (or had ties) across the Mideast, and there were many who wanted a broadbrush smashing of everything, every place and everyone who could be involved in our national moment of horror.

Memories tend to get selective in the passage of time.

The bottom line was, the administration had to act, as expediently as possible, to demonstrate the United States was not a toothless tiger and would definitely bite back - hard and tough - when wounded. The concern that more attacks like 9/11's may be right around the corner was trumpeted in every newspaper and TV news show. So, with the evidence at hand (no matter how much one wants to Monday-morning quarterback the choice) the Commander-in-Chief unleashed the armed forces at the biggest bully on the Mideast block who had a history of bloodying those around him/them, had a human rights violation record equal to Hitler's, and had publically announced the intention of harming the United States as a national policy. The Mideast governments whose citizenry were among the terrorist cowards unilaterally turned a blind eye to finding or assisting to find those who attacked us, and to this day have not taken anything close to military, economic or social measures to mitigate such terror.

So, Iraq got tagged. A diabolical regime with a history of genocide, using chemical weapons on its neighbors and citizens, and using its military in roles which made the Nazi SS seem tame got kicked and kicked hard. The biggest of the bullies got its teeth knocked out, and justifiably so for its role as an "accessory before the fact."

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Iraq War is its timing. Today's generation doesn't remember WWII, Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany or Tojo's Japan. That's "history" to almost all of us.

At Pearl Harbor, the casualty totals were approximately 2,500 killed and 1,200 wounded, depending on whose records you review.

On 9/11, the casualty totals were approximately 3,000 killed and 6,200 injured.

Pearl Harbor was the catalyst to US military commitment to WWII, and the goal was to retaliate for a heinous attack on US soil and to eliminate from the face of the earth the diabolical regimes which aligned to reek such misery, havoc, human rights violations, et al.

The cost to the United States for WWII was astronomical in comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan, and we found ourselves occupying, combatting internal factions there, and nation-building (politically and industrially) for close to three decades before things started to really level out.

Would it be nice if the finances necessary to continue Iraq/Afghanistan could be spent elsewhere within the nation? Sure it would. I'll bet my parents and others probably wished that it wasn't necessary to spend their taxes on WWII costs - from 12/07/1941 through the 1970s. That money, or a lot of it, could also have bought a lot of schools and infrastructure, but at what inevitable price?

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

The problem is, we know better - We don't belong there, shouldn't have gone in the first place. The majority of Americans have had it, and want out of Iraq. Happy62 is right. I heard a number something like 1/2 trillion dollars will be spent on the war. That could have fixed social security, medicare, and done all sorts of wonderful things in this country. The war has accomplished little to nothing.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Happy62-Thank you!-
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. It was a invasion to find weapons...

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Most Americans are so preoccupied with their "stuff" and with themselves that we have the collective memory of a gnat. It's going to take something unthinkable to happen to jerk us out of our self-absorbed stupor. By then it may be too late. :o

Boy is that depressing. Shift gears out of Iraq? Shifting the trillions to domestic feel good things won't help our national security. Pretending the Islamists don't want to do us in won't make it so.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

The Iraq Invasion has made us less safe... in many ways.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

:agree: Mcelheny - thank you! Unfortunately, the war has not made us safer. Senate majority leader Harry Reid summarized it in remarks at this link: http://democrats.senate.gov/newsroom...cfm?id=295281&
The article essentially says: the civil war in Iraq persists; our military is stretched too thin and its ability to address new threats is compromised; Colin Powell has said our military is about broken; we've taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and things are backsliding there; because of iraq, the National Guard (designed to protect us at home) don't have the personnel and equipment to do their job adequately; our moral authority in the world has been shattered by Bush's cowboy politics - our former allies won't stand by our side - our ability to solve problems by diplomacy is diminished.

Senator Reid further says: “We have already lost 4,000 young Americans. 30,000 more have been wounded, many gravely. We are now spending $12 billion every month on the war. That’s almost $300,000 each minute. The President told us the war would cost no more than $60 billion. We’ve already spent ten times that much.

“We are building barracks in Iraq when we should be helping millions of Americans avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. We are policing the streets of Baghdad when we should be investing in universal health care and a better education system. We are protecting oil fields in Basra when we should be funding renewable energy production to help stem the tide of global warming.

“When all is finally said and done, experts say the war is going to cost as much as $3 trillion or more. Where does that $3 trillion come from? It’s all borrowed from future generations. The legacy of our generation could be to leave our children and grandchildren with a safer, cleaner, more prosperous country. Instead, the war in Iraq will ensure that we leave future generations with trillions of dollars in debt.

“Instead of making our own country safer, we are greasing the pockets of corrupt Iraqi politicians and buying their temporary cooperation. And let’s not forget – Iraq is not a poor country. Far from it. Their oil resources make them one of the world’s wealthiest. Record high oil prices have supplied Iraq with literally more money than they know what to do with.

“As we borrow and spend billions of dollars to provide the security state that the Iraqi government has failed to create for themselves, Iraq is bringing in billions in oil money faster than they can open bank accounts to store it all.

“If a parent gives a teenager the choice of either getting a job or receiving an allowance for doing nothing, the teenager will of course choose to do nothing. As long as we guarantee to the Iraqi government that our troops and our money will support them, they will never have incentive to do the job themselves. The security welfare state we’ve created will go on and on forever.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Assume we are out of Iraq within a year.

What should our national security strategy then become visa vie Islamists in general and hostile nations going nuclear in particular?

By the way...too few homes in this country has nothing to do with our current economic problems. There is no need to shift "war money" to domestic home building programs. The economic problem is too many homes...that's why prices have plummeted. Supply exceeds demand - primarily caused by speculator greed throughout the industry.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

It seems pretty obvious that we need to re-focus on Afghanistan, the real home of Al Qaeda.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

...particularly the border with Pakistan...and into Pakistan...and the emerging training ground of North Africa...and our own domestic Islamic cells..and my favorite, greatly enhancing our border security.

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

A very well written post.

If we had never went to Iraq and they had used the WMD's on us the same people saying "We shouldn't be there, we shouldn't have gone" would be saying "Why didn't we do something, we should have gone". ::)

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

But the whole point is, they didn't have WMD's. Once we found that out we could have started an exit strategy. Six years later, what have we accomplished?

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

What WMD's??? Haven't you heard the news? Haven't you read the reports? THERE WERE NO WMD'S!

There's an old expression of "not putting good money after bad." Sorry, but there is so much that can be done with that money right here at home. We need it here, we need it now. We have starving people here, we have more and more homeless people here everyday. We still have not helped thousands and thousands of people after Katrina to rebuild their lives.

This War in Iraq is Bush's Folly. He took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan. And we're all paying the price. Honestly, I don't know why he was never impeached. It baffles me. And if McCain is voted in, this disgraceful debacle will go on and on and on.

With all the starving, homeless people in this country, people without health insurance and poor education in this country, please, let's clean up our own backyard first. All this wasted, and it is indeed wasted, money on this war just makes me want to cry when I see even one cold, shivering, hungry family on the streets of America tossed aside like old ragdolls. There children in this country that don't know if they'll eat tonight. There are families in this country that don't know where they're going to sleep tonight . . . How can you?

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Hmm well where do I start:
1. Because of our actions Libya dismantled it's WMD program - http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa...bya/index.html

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2006_05/libya.asp

2. If I remember correctly Iraq had 17 sanctions against them imposed by the UN, were we just suppose to keep going, 18, 19, 20 without any enforcement?

3. We have not been attacked since 9/11

4. Many terrorist are now dead over there and not over here because of the war.

5. We have not been attacked since 9/11 :)

Now lets say, Iraq had WMD's, the Bush administration did nothing and something horrible happened, this discussion would be: "We were attacked, the Bush administration KNEW they had WMD's and did absolutely nothing, WHY???"

It just can't go both ways. I admire Pesident Bush for having the leadership to make decisions and stick with them regardless of opinion polls, emotions etc.....

I for one am very happy that his approval ratings are very very low because it means he is DOING something. The President who stands there and makes happy feel good speeches and does absolutely nothing to **** of the people and talks about "Building Bridges" will always have great approval ratings however in the end they have done nothing they were hired to do. It's a fickle world out there. :)

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Oh, I wish people would stop crediting Bush for not having any attacks since 9/11. It simply wasn't going to happen anyway! If you track the attacks on any and all US holdings, the attacks have always been 7 to 9 years apart! Bush has increased the terrorists 100 fold. We're not winning the War, we're help Al Queda to recruit terrorist. We are spreading terrorism. Wake up! I don't want a President with a low approval rating. The proves he's doing his job? Really???? Sorry, but I think, WE THE PEOPLE, are smarter than that. Well, as least some of us.