All Things
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The cost of war Since 2001 the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us $1,100,000,000,000 -- that is 1 trillion plus 1 billion. Just imagine what we could have done with that money. What is worse, we borrowed more than half of that sum. Sooner or later...
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The Cost of War It does not look as if we were winning the war in Afghanistan. It does not look as if we'd won in Iraq either. The outcomes of both wars remain uncertain. But one thing is certain: the cost is indefensible. The dollar cost of both...
- The Cost Of War
We do not think much about the cost of war. A few years after the end of the latest military engagement, we erect war monuments—plaques with names, statues of soldiers, civic buildings. We call our soldiers heroes, especially if they did not come home...
- When America Falls Short
Somalia, a country in East Africa has suffered from civil war for many years. 200,000 Somalis fled to the US; 70,000 of them live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in the largest settlement of Somali refugees in the US. Many of these refugees came as children,...
All Things
TheIraqwaris over.
HaveyoueverseenanyfilmfootageofthecelebrationsattheendofWorldWarII?Ofstrangershuggingandkissing,ofanentirecountryjubilant,throwingonehugeparty?
Inrecentdays,thepresidenthasbeengivingsomesoberspeechesabouttheendoftheIraqwarafternineyearsoffighting.Ihavenotheardofanyspontaneouspubliccelebrations.Ihavenotseenhugebannerheadlinesinthepaper.
An eerie silence hangs of America. A war is over. Many died. Many more came home seriously hurt. Many families are suffering. But their pains are their own. They are not losses suffered by the nation because the war was not a war fought by America. It was a war conducted by the military, not by the nation. It was a war initiated by a small clique of men in the Executive.
Usually,warshavewinnersandlosers.ThePresidenthasnot,asfarasIcantell, saidthatwewonthiswar.HetalksabouthowweleaveIraqabletotakecareofitself,asanewsovereignnation.Butthereisnotalkaboutwinning.TherearenoexplanationsofwhywefoughtinIraqfornineyears. The father of a soldier who died says: A war that you can just walk away from cannot have been very important.
Welostcloseto4500AmericansinIraq.Iraqilossesarehugeandestimatesdifferwidely.ThePresidentsaysthattheUSspent$1trilliononthiswar.OtherspointoutthatifwecountinthecostofcaringfortheveteransinjuredinIraq,andofsendingotherveteranstoschool,andpayinginterestonthemoneyweborrowedtopayforthiswar,thecostiscloserto$3trillions.
Ordinarycitizenspaidthosecosts.Congresswasbarelyinvolvedbecausetheynevergottodecidewhetherwewouldgotowarornot.Theyjustpassedyearlybudgetstopaythebills.ThewarwastheprojectofasmallcliqueintheExecutive—Rumsfeld,Wolfowitz,Cheney.
Citizensclearlywerenotinvolved.Beforethewarstarted,inFebruaryof2003,1millionAmericansandsomewherebetween15and30millionpeoplearoundtheworlddemonstratedagainstthewar.Ourgovernmentpaidnoattention.
Twoyearsafterthebeginningofthewar,60%ofthepopulationthoughtthatwehadenteredthiswaronfaultyinformation.AmajorityofAmericanswantedustoleaveIraq.Thegovernmentpaidnoattention.ManyAmericansactivelydemonstratedtheirdisagreementwiththiswar.Thegovernmentdidnotcare.
LifeintheUSwentonasbefore.Wewenttowork,wecamehometobewithfamilyandfriends.Wewentshopping.Hereandthere,ifahometownsoldierdied,therewasastoryinthepaperaboutourheroes.Butfortherest,lifecontinued asifnothingwashappening.
Whatcanwelearnfromallthis?Thegovernment,especiallytheexecutive,ismoredistantfromordinarycitizensthaneverbefore.Thegovernmentcansendsoldierstofightabroadinawarthatmakesnoclearsense,thathasnoclearenemies,thathasnocleargoals,awarthat,intheend,wedon'tknowwhetherwewonorlost.Thegovernmentcanengageinmilitaryadventuresthatnoonecanquiteunderstand.Butitmakesnodifferencetous.
No one raises their voice against the officials who started that war or who conducted it, often quite ineptly. There is no call for investigations, let alone indictments for those responsible. In the midst of a vigorous and much discussed presidential campaign, the war in Iraq, now ended, and the war in Afghanistan, still daily demanding its victims on all sides, is not a topic of conversation.
Weelectedthegovernmentsthat conducted the war in Iraq.Buttheyclearlyarenotconsideringthemselvestherepresentativesofthepeople.Theyareengagedintheir own projectswhichwepayforbutotherwisearenotinvolvedin.Theywilldowhatevertheywant,forthesortofunintelligibleandbizarrereasonsthatmovedthemtoinvadeIraq.Theywillnotpayattentiontocitizenswhodisagree.
FuturegenerationswilllookbackontheIraqwarasanewlowinthedownwardpathofAmericandemocracy.
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The cost of war Since 2001 the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us $1,100,000,000,000 -- that is 1 trillion plus 1 billion. Just imagine what we could have done with that money. What is worse, we borrowed more than half of that sum. Sooner or later...
-
The Cost of War It does not look as if we were winning the war in Afghanistan. It does not look as if we'd won in Iraq either. The outcomes of both wars remain uncertain. But one thing is certain: the cost is indefensible. The dollar cost of both...
- The Cost Of War
We do not think much about the cost of war. A few years after the end of the latest military engagement, we erect war monuments—plaques with names, statues of soldiers, civic buildings. We call our soldiers heroes, especially if they did not come home...
- When America Falls Short
Somalia, a country in East Africa has suffered from civil war for many years. 200,000 Somalis fled to the US; 70,000 of them live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in the largest settlement of Somali refugees in the US. Many of these refugees came as children,...