Cost of Bush-Cheney Iraq Fiasco
Well Beyond 4,000 U.S. Dead
The Bush administration's misadventure in Iraq has closing in on another sad mile- stone, the 5,000th American death.
The number itself is not magic. In fact, some counters come up with slightly different figures. (We include the 527 who have died in Afghanistan because the outcome of that con- flict is closely tied to activities in Iraq.) But it is startling, nonetheless, in its big-round-number starkness. And it be- comes enraging when balanced against Dick Cheney's brutally, arro- gantly dismissive "So?" when asked about the fact that the preponder- ance of Americans polled about the war believe it not worth the enor- mous cost.
The cost that prompted the question to Cheney was the death toll. But Americans should remember, more strongly with each passing month to this year's elections, the real cost beyond the deaths.
Remember that 30-something-thousand of our servicemen and servicewomen have been injured, maimed or rendered mentally trauma- tized because of the war.
Remember that several times that number -- nobody has an ac- curate count -- of Iraqi civilians have lost their lives through the destruc- tion of war, the lack of medical care, the disappearance of the usual in- frastructure of everyday life.
Remember that our National Guard has been so weakened by Iraq tours of duty that it cannot adequately respond to domestic emer- gencies.
Remember that millions of Iraqis fled as refugees and only a frac- tion have moved back.
Remember that, despite Bush's pipe dream that this war will be remembered as bringing peace and happiness to the Middle East, the war in fact has alienated much of the Middle East against America and has made us the objects of hatred in much of the Muslim world. Even the Iranians are made understandably uneasy, fearful, defensive about the sabre rattling from Bush and his henchmen. Not to mention the Iraqis whose country has been ruined in the name of democracy.
Do the Palestinians applaud him for progress toward peace? Do the Israelis think Bush has brokered peace and happiness? Do the Sau- dis think Bush policies have made their country safer or more peaceful? Do the Turks sleep better at night? Are the Syrians happy about devel- opments? Do Spaniards and Britons, who have endured terrorist strikes, think Bush policies made those explosions less llikely?
Remember that in dollars, the war has cost something around $1 trillion. (That would buy two million homes worth $500,000 each for New Orleans and the other Gulf Coast areas devastated by hurricane Ka- trina.)
REMEMBER these things and determine not to vote for any can- didate of Bush's party who voted for, abetted, sup- ported, sympathized with the Bush-Cheney words and policies that brought this war about. ---Veritas
American philosopher George Santayana:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
