Mold In The Sour Cream

August 4, 2010
The Milkman’s Son
By Tracy C. Baker
This Is The War That Was#140
Iraq – What a War!
On August 31, 2010, the Iraq “War’ is “officially” “over.”
Sorry for all the quotes, but calling this illegal and unjustified invasion a war just sticks in my craw. Of course Sadam was a pretty rotten guy, but then again we made him! But remember the words of George W. Bush…
“We know of no connection between Sadam Hussein and 9/11.”
And those “weapons of mass destruction?” Surprise, surprise! The UN weapons inspectors were right! Nothing, nada, zip.
As for “over,” we will be leaving thousands of troops there for years, probably decades to come (can anyone say Korea?)
Of course for many, the question is did we win? The following statistics have been gathered by various think tanks and were published on About.Com. The statistics are as of July 27, 2010.
The Money:
• Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $900 billion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through Sept 2010. (that is about the same as we had to give the banks to bail them out for causing the current economic mess!)
• U.S. 2009 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $7.3 billion as of Oct 2009
• U.S. 2008 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion
• U.S. Spending per Second - $5,000 in 2008 (per Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on May 5, 2008)
• Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
• Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.
• Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)
• Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
• Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion
• Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion
• Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion
(Let’s see…that’s about 25+ billion…enough to save a few police, firefighters, teachers, schools etc etc.)
The Troops
• Troops in Iraq - Total 65,000 U.S. troops as of February 28, 2010. All other nations have withdrawn their troops.
• U.S. Troop Casualties - 4,416 US troops; 98% male. 91% non-officers; 82% active duty, 11% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 72% were from the US Army
• Non-U.S. Troop Casualties - Total 316, with 179 from the UK
• US Troops Wounded - 31,897, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries. (Total excludes psychological injuries.)
• US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home
• US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 75 total, at least 36 by enemy fire
(This is just sad)
The Others
• Journalists killed – 141: 94 by murder and 47 by acts of war
• Journalists killed by US Forces - 14
• Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 9,571
• Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian causalities at over 600,000.
• Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000
• Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 571
• Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 306, including 57 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 89 status unknown.
Quality Of Life Indicators
• Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 - 2,255,000
• Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million
• Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect
• Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%
• Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)
• Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%
• Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000
• Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000
• Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000
• Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 1 to 2 hours, per Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Per Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007)
• Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 10.9 in May 2007
• Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 5.6 in May 2007
• Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 16 to 24
• Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems - 37%
• Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies - 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)
• Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated - 22%
What We Accomplished
• Number of Iraqi Dictator’s deposed and dead – 1
So, what did we accomplish?
Not a Goddamn thing!
Fini
Tracy