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Costs of War SoarOpposition Grows
The 9/11 Commission’s final report that found no "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda is another nail in the coffin for President Bush’s case for war. And, as War Times goes to press, Moktada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite opposition leader, has called for a national uprising against the U.S. occupation. The economic, human and social costs of the Iraq war have been catastrophic and continue to mount. As U.S. soldier fatalities approach 1,000, Bush’s approval rating on Iraq has plummeted to 39 percent, the lowest since he took office. A CBS poll found that 65 percent of Americans say the country is on the "wrong track." The death toll of Iraqi civilians has soared to more than 11,000 and U.S. officials admit that, as of July, fewer than 140 of 2,300 promised Iraq reconstruction projects are under way. About 30 percent of Iraqis suffer from unemployment. One U.S. Army officer recently remarked that there are “too many angry young men, with no hope for the future, on the street.” WAR CAUSES SOCIAL CUTBACKSAccording to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, outrage over war and occupation has accelerated recruitment to Al Qaeda and swelled its global ranks to 18,000. With a $151 billion price tag thus far, and an additional $50 billion expected to be added in January, the monthly cost of the Iraq war now rivals that of the Vietnam War. According to economist Doug Henwood, the average cost to each U.S. household will be at least $3,415 over the next three years. This is the first U.S. war in which taxes were lowered instead of raised in the face of astronomical new military costs. War spending and tax cuts for the wealthy have led the administration to propose virtually freezing domestic discretionary spending except for homeland security. Chief among programs Bush seeks to eliminate are grants for low-income schools and family literacy, community development block grants, rural housing and economic development. The funds allotted thus far for Iraq could have procured health care for over 27 million uninsured Americans or paid for the Head Start program for 20 million children--two programs that directly impact U.S. families’ lives. The immediate economic toll is felt by the 30 to 40 percent of reservists and National Guard members who earn a lower salary when they leave civilian employment for military deployment. Concerns about their families’ economic security, poor leadership within platoons, and the dangerous reality on the ground have led 52 percent of soldiers to report low morale. According to the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, almost one-third of army soldiers screened positive for depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder after deployment in Iraq. IRAQIS SUFFER--AND FIGHT BACKIraqis share a different kind of despair over the quagmire. People are humiliated--not only by depraved abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and the daily raids on homes--but by the day-to-day realities of living under military occupation. Chaos, killings, kidnappings and destruction continue , forcing many children to stay home from school and women to stay off the streets at night. Keith Mines, a former Special Forces officer who represented the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in western Iraq last year, recently wrote, “Coalition forces are not only not stopping most of the violence, they are the active force which is provoking it.” Iraqis agree. More than half the population, when polled by the CPA in June, said they would feel safer if U.S. troops left immediately and 92 percent of Iraqis consider the United States an occupying force. The international community, still seething from the U.S. disregard for multilateralism and international law, is also fed-up with the occupation. Governments from Spain to the Philippines to Moldova are pulling their troops out of Iraq. Instead of spending billions on an aggressive war, the US could have funded programs that tackle the pressing needs of the world community and that undermine anti-American sentiment. The $151 billion spent on Iraq could pay for food for half of the hungry people in the world for two years, a comprehensive global AIDS program and clean water and sanitation across the developing world. Amy Quinn works at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington , D.C. |
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