Our National Report Card on War

Today marks six years since the start of the Iraq War and six years and
five months since troops invaded Afghanistan. These wars were
presumably started in response to 9/11 in the attempt to stop terrorism
and protect us from Saddam's caches of WMD.

So, how are we doing? Let's take a look.

Over the past six years in Iraq we have buried 4,261Americans and 317
coalition troops and seen 31,102 Americans wounded
(www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties).

The death rate for Iraqi civilians is a little more sketchy with
estimates by the Iraq Body Count (www.iraqbodycount.org) between
91,000-99,500. Projections from the 2006 Lancet Report count nearly
one million Iraqi deaths and other sources believe that four million
Iraqis have been affected by the war through loss of their homes, the
destruction of infrastructure, the flight to other countries and
residence in Middle Eastern refugee camps.

Fortunately, the death rate in Afghanistan is not as severe with 662
Americans and 436 coalition troops killed and 2,713 Americans wounded.
If you are trying to calculate Afghan military or civilian deaths, good
luck in finding it.

Government spending through FY 2009 is projected at $864 for all
war-related costs since 9/11, according to the October 2008
Congressional Service Report (www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf).
The war in Iraq will receive an estimated $657 billion (76 percent)
while expenses for the war in Afghanistan and various counter-terrorism
operations is about $173 billion (20 percent). The remaining monies
are $28 billion (3 percent) for enhanced base security and about $5
billion that CRS cannot allocate (1 percent). Of these funds, about
$812 billion (94 percent) are under the Department of Defense (DOD),
nearly $52 billion (6 percent) are for foreign aid programs and embassy
operations, and $8 billion (less than 1 percent) for medical care for
veterans. As of July 2008, DOD's monthly obligations for contracts and
pay averaged about $12.3 billion, including $9.9 billion for Iraq, and
$2.4 billion for Afghanistan,

Our national debt is now $11 trillion, according to the U.S. National
Debt Clock (www.brillig.com/debt_clock). That includes Bush's $750
billion stimulus package of last fall and Obama's $787 billion package
in February.

Meanwhile, more and more Americans are losing their jobs: 12.5 million
or 8.1 percent workers by February 2009 (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics) while Bloomberg reports a projected 9.4 percent will be
unemployed by end of 2009. Gallup polls show 29 percent of workers
fear they will be layed off.

George W. Bush left the nation with a stained reputation throughout the
world where we are seen as practitioners of torture, extraordinary
rendition, Gitmo prisoner camps, killers of civilians, and now
purveyors of a spendthrift, corrupt banking system, which has affected
recession in countries all over the world.

Fortunately, President Obama is trying to do something about that
reputation. For example, he is fulfilling a campaign pledge of
withdrawing troops from Iraq in 19 months. However, about 50,000
troops will remain there for an unknown period of time. Unfortunately,
he authorized a surge of 17,000 troops sent to Afghanistan. This
fulfills another campaign promise.

Last August Bush sent 12,000 to 15,000 more troops to Afghanistan to
join the 34,000 U.S. troops already there, according to U.S. News and
World Report
(www.usnews.com/articles/news/iraq/2008/08/19/pentagon-plans-to-send-more-than-12000-additional-troops-to-afghanistan.html).

In their new book titled Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold
Story, journalists Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, who have been
on the beat in Afghanistan since the Russians were there in 1979,
predict it will take 300,000 troops to quell Afghanistan.

Two days ago Admiral Eric Olson, former operational commander for
coalition forces in Afghanistan, wrote an opinion piece
(www.csmonitor.com/2009/0317/p09s01-coop.htm) indicating that U.S.
troops are being sent to Afghanistan "without a clear strategy" in the
belief that "the successful surge in Iraq can be replicated in
Afghanistan."

This surge won't work, he said, because Afghanistan has mostly rural
populations in mountainous regions with unpaved roads and bad weather.
This will make troop movement and quick-response efforts very
difficult.

The "growing unrest in the Pashtun territories that straddle the border
with Pakistan" is another problem. Dealing with this area will take a
"village-by-village, tribe-by-tribe approach," which our troops know
how to do. It will also take cooperation between the Afghan and
Pakistani government with the leaders of the United States and NATO.

If you recall last fall's presidential campaign and the primary season
preceding it, the candidates hardly ever referred to our two wars.
Then in September as the economic crisis was upon us, what some people
call our "financial 9/11," war receded in our minds even further.

Then, three days after he took office, President Obama authorized
unmanned Predator drones to fly into two Pakistani villages where 18
civilians were killed. (Last year 30 strikes killed more than 200
people.) In February, he decided to send 17,000 troops to
Afghanistan. So we're off to a good start with our new president with
regard to war, a man in whom we placed so much hope that things would
be different after the past eight years.

Well, there is a kernel of hope. Unlike his predecessor, Obama listens
to the people. A recent ABC/Post poll
(https://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/story?id=6957836) shows that
Americans divide by 50-47 percent on whether the conflict in
Afghanistan is worth fighting even though nearly two-thirds support the
president's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Perhaps, if
we put enough pressure on him we might make a difference.

One way you can make a difference is by going to New York City on April
4 to march for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. In your local
communities you can also call attention to these two wars, which we
didn't want....and which we as a nation cannot support financially,
militarily, or morally. The power of change rests in your hands.

Peace Now! Peace Now! Peace Now!