'Who Really Benefits From The Iraq War?'
By Dave Gibson (08/21/07)
The sad story of the worst misuse of the United States military (otherwise known as the Iraq War) could be summed up in the following statement: Never have so many suffered such loss for the profit of so few!
The question is: Who has benefited from the Iraq War or What has been accomplished?...Have the American people benefited in any way from the ongoing conflict? Have the Iraqi people benefited? Unfortunately, the answer would be no on both counts. As for what has been accomplished by our efforts, military accomplishments have been puzzling at best and more often than not, the only result is more dead American soldiers.
To date, we the American taxpayers have spent $453 billion on Iraq. The total price of this war is now estimated to be $1.2 trillion. That is a big difference from President Bush's promise that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the war and reconstruction. We were told that the financial burden of this war would be placed upon the Iraqis and not the American taxpayers. Of course, that was a lie which now threatens to bankrupt this nation.
Now we get to the real cost of any war...Those who lose their lives under their nation's flag. As of August 19, 2007, we have lost 3,707 American soldiers in Iraq. 27,409 soldiers have been wounded, many of those young men will live the rest of their lives with arms and legs missing. According to the Pentagon, there have also been 70,000 Iraqis killed since 2003.
There is no question that Saddam was a monster, and that should have never been a surprise. After all, it was we who equipped and counseled him for so many years. While Saddam was a Muslim, he was not a religious zealot or extremist, he was described by most as a secularist. He was a longtime enemy of the Shiites who control Iran, as well as an enemy of al Qaeda. It would seem that this man would have made a very good ally considering the current blood thirsty state of the Islamic world. However, President Bush and his non-veteran war planners decided that Saddam must be toppled and killed...I personally believe that the invasion of Iraq and the persecution of Saddam will be remembered as the biggest military blunder in U.S. history.
The Iraqi people certainly did not live in an ideal society under Saddam , but they did have running water, electricity, jobs, and they could go to the market without fear of being blown to pieces by a Muslim car bomber. Saddam did rule with an iron fist, and as a result there was no terrorism in Iraq. It has become apparent that Iraq can only function with an iron-fisted dictator at the helm. Despite the daily bombings and kidnappings, and a radical Shiite government in place, Bush still tells us that Democracy is taking hold in that country and that somehow the Iraqi people are now "better off."
So we know that the American and Iraqi people have not benefited from the war. So who has?
The following is a list changes which have taken place since the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003:
Beginning of War: Today:
price of Halliburton stock $10 a share $32 a share
price of oil $25 a barrel $71 a barrel
price of gasoline $1.50 a gallon $2.80 a gallon
price of home heating oil $1.24 a gallon $2.41 a gallon
It is no secret that Vice-President Dick Cheney left his job as the head of Halliburton to run in 2000. It is also no secret that Halliburton has received $16 billion in no bid contracts since the beginning of the war. Of course, Halliburton is not the only company now operating in Iraq. In fact, in December 2006 The Washington Post reported that there were 100,000 contractors working in Iraq (that figure did not include sub-contractors). Just as Gen. Douglas MacArthur once declared World War II to be: "an engineer's war," it would be fair to refer to the war in Iraq as a 'contractor's war.'
Another fact is that in 2000, we placed two oil men into the White House. Since the start of the Iraq War, the price of oil and gasoline has been steadily increasing, as have the incredible profits of the oil industry. In 2005, Exxon Mobil Corporation set a record as the first publicly traded company with quarterly sales over $100 billion. Could it be only a mere coincidence that when these two oil men were elected a barrel of oil only cost $10, and today that same barrel goes for $70?...While the bushbots rush to defend their leader and refer to selective price indexes, our economy is collapsing.
Our military has been stretched to the breaking point, the national treasury has been raided. Thousands of our young men have been killed and injured, while fighting under absurdly restrictive rules of engagement. It is obvious that the American people have in no way benefited from this war. Nor have the Iraqi people who now live under an oppressive Shiite regime, and risk life and limb to simply purchase their daily provisions.
However, big business has benefited greatly from this war. Of course, they have done so at the expense of American lives and taxpayer dollars. We the people are in fact supplementing companies such as Halliburton, Blackwater, and DynCorp to name only a few.
These sad facts are out there and available to everyone. It is maddening to me as a conservative to see that so few of my brethren chooses to speak out about this ongoing outrage.
The fight was never with Iraq. It is a big lie!
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