Crib Sheet: Iraq War Update
What is going on in Iraq now and what we can do about it.
By Ross Mudrick, University of Wisconsin
Monday March 19, 2007
When the Bush administration proposed an invasion of Iraq, Vice-President Cheney promised that we would be “greeted as liberators.” With the war now four years old, the deaths continue to mount and the administration shows no intention of bringing the troops home. Most Democrats and several prominent Republicans agree that the Bush policies have failed, and the voters spoke forcefully in the 2006 elections, but in January President Bush told the nation that 20,000 additional troops would be needed in Iraq.
After the president announced the troop increase, members of the Senate and House of Representatives introduced identical measures to show disapproval of the president’s plan. The House passed the measure, while the Senate did not get the votes needed to debate the bill. The non-binding legislation was quickly followed by several other proposals. Currently Congress is looking at a number of different measures aimed at changing the course of the United States’ involvement in Iraq and bringing U.S. troops home as quickly as possible.
These options include legislation sponsored by Representative John Murtha (D-PA) that would only fund troops who are prepared for combat and have the proper equipment. Given the administration’s problems in getting enough troops over there with adequate rest and the necessary equipment, like body armor, this would effectively force a troop drawdown. But Vice President Cheney responded that the Murtha proposal would “not serve the best interest of the nation.”
What Cheney hasn’t explained, though, is why 135,000 American troops are still stationed in Iraq nearly four years after President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” and an end to major combat operations. The administration and the Republican leadership must answer this question, and several others, before they can be taken seriously on this issue.
What’s the plan to end the war? Members of both the House and the Senate have offered a variety of proposals to change the course in Iraq, ranging from Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) plan for redeployment to Murtha’s plan to ensure readiness to nonbinding statements of disapproval for the escalation of troop levels. The public strongly supports a timeline for troop withdrawal and opposes escalation, but the Bush administration has ignored both the legislation and the public outcry. In fact, the administration has upped the ante on its escalation strategy and decided to deploy an additional 8,000 troops.
How many more American soldiers must die? Since the invasion of Iraq, more than 3,200 American soldiers have been killed and more than 23,000 American soldiers have been injured. This number fails to account for mental issues that face young veterans returning to the United States, including post-traumatic stress disorder . It also fails to account for the 50,000 to 60,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed. As the Bush administration escalates the war, there will certainly be more deaths and more injuries. Any plan for going forward in Iraq must account for the extreme toll that soldiers and their families are being asked to pay.
Why aren’t the troops given adequate rest and training? 420,000 troops have been involved in the multiple missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty Army combat brigades have been to Iraq twice and nine have gone three times. Even some generals now assert that troops are not being given adequate rest and training. What’s worse, many of these soldiers are members of the National Guard, whose central mission is to protect and serve on American soil, not on foreign soil. This is yet another reflection of the Bush administration’s lack of concern for soldiers and their families.
Don’t our troops deserve the best care possible? Since The Washington Post first reported the maintenance problems at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, President Bush fired several high ranking members of Army personnel, and started a commission to investigate the situation. Still, stories persist that Walter Reed is far from an isolated incident and Walter Reed patients were pressured not to talk to the media as a means of preventing any new information from being released. All this, and still returning veterans face massive bureaucratic barriers that reflect the administration’s failure to plan for the true costs of the war. Everyone in Washington claims to support the troops, but until proper care is ensured these words are meaningless.
How much more are Americans expected to pay? Obviously, the cost of the war goes beyond dollars and cents. Still, at a time when so many American needs are unmet, the Iraq war costs billions of dollars. Final costs are impossible to tally, with money being funneled into the Pentagon and away from many other necessary projects, but between 2002 and 2006 the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq cost tax payers 318.5 billion dollars. The costs don’t seem to be coming down anytime soon, either. In its 2008 budget proposal the Bush administration requested another $93.4 billion for 2007 and $141.7 billion for 2008 — all, of course, on top of a proposed $481.4 billion defense budget. The administration can’t even account for where much of this money goes.
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Comments
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Unfortunately the figures quoted here are underestimating the true cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been over 1.6 million U.S. Military personnel that have deployed to either Iraq and Afghanistan. 420,000 have gone more than once. The true cost of the wars don’t stop once hostilites are over. The veterans of these wars will need physical and mental health care for the next 60-70 years. A cost that will run into the TRILLIONS! Unfortunately our country is only now waking up to the fact that we haven’t planned for the full cost of the war.
— Rob Timmins - Mar 20, 12:36 PM - #I agree bring home troops that should not have been sent to invade a country that had not attacked the USA.
Then have those that sent them on false intel , including those that gave false intel. on trial for miss using their office, & missleading the nation to an illegal act of War!
— David J. Wilson-Roberts - Mar 23, 10:14 PM - #Actually Rob, people all over the country and the world stood in the streets opposing Bush’s “pre-emptive” strategy, but were ignored by our dictator in chief. Many people commented that wars take years to plan and fund, that there were no real goals set (as a definition of “victory”) and that diplomacy would work far better in this situation. All were swept aside by “the decider” who not only discounts any anti-war discourse, but also doesn’t abide by the Constitution. Bush and his colleagues should be behind bars – tried and convicted as war criminals by every definition of the term. Yet the Amerikkkan sheeple just go about their distracted, “who cares” attitude and won’t face the reality of how bad this is going to get in the near future (just wait til the debt comes due).
— Tom Ferry - Mar 24, 08:44 AM - #Great article. King George is in charge and will be until enough pressure is exerted upon him to change direction. We need our college students’ involvement to bring about this change. YOU can make a difference, and will, IF you step up. Our country and your future need you to do so.
— Edward - Mar 24, 08:53 AM - #This only about US? What about them?
http://www.theprisoner.us
— Adhamiya - Apr 10, 08:44 PM - #