It is time for this madness to end
We've spent five years and over a trillion dollars for this war, and we still have bombings within secured areas.
Right when Dick Cheney and John McCain were over there cheerleading...trying to draw attention to successes in Iraq....
From nytimes.com, March 18, 2008: BAGHDAD — A bombing on Monday evening killed 43 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, penetrating one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq. [..]"
Then on the same day:
Two US soldiers were killed Monday north of Baghdad when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
And another soldier died last Saturday from small arms fire during combat operations. 19 y/o kid.
I already wrote about the five US soldiers in Baghdad who were killed by a suicide bomber while they were on foot patrol. One week ago.
But Dick Cheney smiled pretty for the cameras and said the invasion of Iraq was a "successful endeavor...if you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort."
Successful endeavor? ... well worth the effort? For whom? Cheney's corporate friends? Blackwater, etc.?
Cheney thinks this is progress:
From Reuters: "Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.
...Better security in some parts of Iraq must not distract attention from the continuing plight of millions of people who have essentially been left to their own devices," [..]"
Iraqis make $5 a day, and a third of their monthly budget goes just for water.
And those millions of people who have been left to their own devices are children and women...elderly and disabled people.
While the Iraqi government wallows in oil money, we the US taxpayers continue to pour billions into the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraqis have a budget surplus. We have a budget deficit. Now, tell me, who should be paying?
The Iraqis haven't used the gains in security to try to strengthen their government. All they can do is argue about how to spend money....which tribe should get what. And more violence by the day....
And yet, the White House and John McCain are selling the 'surge' as a victory.
Bush refuses to take any further responsibility for this mess...he's just waiting until he can hand it to the next president.
Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to find a spine...again. The Democratic Party candidates (Netroots Caucus) for the US Congress have put together a plan to end the war in Iraq. A plan they have pledged to campaign on and support once elected.
The plan is being endorsed by people who are for Obama and people who are for Clinton...and everyone in between who's in favor of stopping the war.
We're nearing 4,000 US dead, well over 50,000 US wounded, and what could be 1 million dead and wounded Iraqis.
The total cost of the war will be more than $3 Trillion taxpayer dollars. It could well be worse. This for a war we were assured wouldn't cost more than $100 Billion, tops, and most of that would come back to us through oil taken from Iraq.
It is time for this to end.
Ah well...what with our economy crashing, maybe it can't go on much longer anyway.
