Iraq Watch

3/19 What is the Real Costs of Invading Iraq?

[Citizens For Legitimate Government] Bush's war, five years and counting: 1,220,580 deaths and 4 trillion dollars. By Lori Price 19 Mar 2008 Remember when Ralph Nader said there was no difference between Bush and Gore? Yup. A million-plus dead Iraqis might disagree. Nader's running - once again - to the delight of Bush's corpora-terrorists. Already, the GOP-owned media polls declare that Nader has five or six percent of the vote (Yeah, right!). Wake up and smell the French Roast! Ralph Nader - as well as the phony race issue and super delegate 'outrage' - is going to provide the media cover for Coup 2008. As to Iraq under Nader's begotten McCain: we'll just be replacing the q with an n.

What is the real death toll in Iraq? The Americans learned one lesson from Vietnam: don't count the civilian dead. As a result, no one knows how many Iraqis have been killed in the five years since the invasion. Estimates put the toll at between 100,000 and one million. 19 Mar 2008 The British polling firm Opinion Research Business (ORB) asked 1,720 Iraqi adults last summer if they had lost family members by violence since 2003; 16% had lost one, and 5% two. Using the 2005 census total of 4,050,597 households in Iraq, this suggests 1,220,580 deaths since the invasion.

Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark 19 Mar 2008 At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion... Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion.

After five years of U.S. occupation, Iraq is destroyed as a country By Patrick Cockburn 18 Mar 2008 Five years of occupation have destroyed Iraq as a country. Baghdad is today a collection of hostile Sunni and Shiite ghettoes divided by high concrete walls. Different districts even have different national flags... The Iraqi government tries to give the impression that normality is returning. Iraqi journalists are told not to mention the continuing violence. When a bomb exploded in Karada district near my hotel, killing 70 people, the police beat and drove away a television cameraman trying to take pictures of the devastation.

Our legacy is a dark and forbidding place of militias By Kim Sengupta 19 Mar 2008 The siren for an impending attack went off three times in three hours yesterday, with anti-missile guns roaring in response while soldiers dived for cover... Five years after the start of the war, the beginning of the end comes with little fanfare. The legacy Britain leaves behind however, will long remain a matter of dispute. British officials claim their tenure has seen nothing like the bloodshed seen under US control. But for many Iraqis, Basra is now a dark and forbidding place of militias.

Bush rejects Iraq troop pullout 19 Mar 2008 Five years after launching the invasion of Iraq, President [sic] George Bush has strongly signalled that he will not order US troop withdrawals beyond those already planned. Bush said he refuses to "jeopardise the hard-fought [oil, opium smuggling] gains" of the past year.

Gordon Brown accused of breaking Iraq promise 19 Mar 2008 Gordon Brown has been accused of breaking his promises on Iraq as troops were told a force of 4,000 would need to stay in the country until the end of the year. The disclosure came on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the invasion.

British Govt. to Delay Withdrawal of Military Troops From Iraq 19 Mar 2008 The British government revealed on Wednesday that it's delaying earlier plans to withdraw thousands of military troops from Iraq. The decision came following the non-stop attacks on the military camp in Basra airport, where British troops are based.

Five years on, Bush still chasing victory 20 Mar 2008 US President [sic] George Bush has defended his decision to go to war against Iraq five years ago, vowing no retreat as he promised the battle would end in victory. But as he spoke scores of protesters gathered just a few blocks away in Washington to call for an end to the war in which nearly 4000 US soldiers have died along with tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

After five years in Iraq, Bush hails 'strategic victory' 19 Mar 2008 President [sic] George Bush showed no sign of regret today when he marked the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by declaring that the costs in terms of lives and upheaval had been worth it and that retreat would threaten both security and the world economy. He claimed his strategy adopted last year of increasing the number of US troops in Iraq had been a triumph. [See: US Nears 4,000 Dead in Iraq 16 Mar 2008.]

Cheney again links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks 18 Mar 2008 Amid tears and wails, mourners in the southern city of Najaf on Tuesday began burying victims from a suicide bombing that killed nearly 50 worshipers and injured dozens of others just before evening prayers Monday in nearby Karbala... But Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney gave an upbeat view of conditions in Iraq. Cheney also defended the toppling of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as part of the struggle against terrorism following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

AP president: US arrests journalist in Iraq to 'control' information 19 Mar 2008 Associated Press president Tom Curley says his news organization does not buy the government's argument that one of its photographers arrested in Iraq was working on behalf of the enemy, and he alleged the US is rounding up journalists in an attempt to control information.

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2/23/06: Abu Ghraib Torture Photos and Videos Confirm Need for Independent Counsel, And Criminal Charges Against U.S. Officials!

Last week, the world shock to see more photos and video release by Australian TV show "Dateline" about the torture in the Abu Ghraib prison. >> Read More

To see the complete photo album, click here

"Dateline" show about the Abu Ghraib
(Window Media Format:  High   Low)

Military Watch

More Money, Corruptions for Illegal U.S. War in Iraq

8/29: Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War

8/28: Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here >> Read More

8/27: Pentagon has awarded contracts worth $104 billion so far this year!

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8/28: When It Comes to Guns, We're No. 1

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8/20: Pentagon sets goals to hit before end of Bush term

The Pentagon has set 25 goals to meet by the end of the Bush administration, including implementation of a long-term plan for detaining terrorism suspects, according to a memo obtained by Reuters>> Read More

The US War in Iraq Costs:
$450,547,000,000 (As of: September 11, 2007)

From Cost of War URL: http://www.costofwar.com

Total U.S. Death: 3,774
Total U.K. Death: 169
"Coalition" Forces Death: 129

Total U.S.-U.K.-"Coalition Forces" Death: 4,072 (as of September 10, 2007)

Total Wounded: 27,186 (As of August 9, 2007)

URL: http://icasualties.org/oif/

Updates Number of Iraqi Civilian Had been Killed
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

3/19/07: Military Industry Confidential - Little Know World of the Aerospace Military Industry
By: Lee Siu Hin

Every year in Washington D.C. just a day after the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the related major antiwar protest, little notice by peace activists at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in downtown D.C., there’s a large 4-day (March 19-22) U.S. Missile Defense Conference and Exhibit, organized by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to promote more money for the missile defense program. >> Read The Article

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