The official truth about Iraq War is finally out!

I had written about the high price the world has to pay for America's foolish war on Iraq. In that article I had speculated whether the price that America and the rest of the world had to pay for a war was worth it to satiate the ego of one man. And now five years after the war was declared and flattened an entire nation throwing the lives of millions into limbo a high-profile US Senate panel has released a report which states that President Bush and his associates built up a false case for war against Iraq.

According to the report President Bush, vice president Cheney and many others were involved in creating a systematic and exaggerated propaganda about Saddam Hussein's links to Al Qaeda, the stock of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear bombs in Iraq etc. These blatant lies misled not only the US congress but also the people and made them suppor the war. I came to know about this Senate Panel report in today's front page story of Dallas Morning News.

The 170-page report accuses president Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials of repeatedly overstating the Iraqi threat in the emotional aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The report has been endorsed by all eight committee Democrats and two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

The report is not only about Iraq, it also talks about alleged US attempts to destabilise Iran by pitting one faction against other. Apparently there were meetings of high-profile Pentagon officials in Rome and Paris where they deliberated about ways and means to destabilize the government in Iran. Pentagon officials studied the internal rivalries inside Iran wanted to set up a "Iranian hit" team which would target U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This is the US government itself wanting to kill their soldiers, can they get any more cruel and selfish?

It makes me wonder whether the speculations that the terrorists in North-East India being funded by CIA are true? After reading this confirmed report I wouldn't be surprised if it were US which is funding the Kashmir terrorists too, by proxy through Pakistan. It seems as if US doesn't want any country to prosper or become powerful, economically, militarily or otherwise. If it seems imminent there will be efforts to create internal strife in the country or a war will be declared. Will this trail of blood for oil and power ever end? Can the US not think of a situation where the entire world prospers and there is no hunger, poverty or civic disturbance in the world?

Historically the British used the "Divide and Rule" policy to conquer the world and plunder its riches for their own benefit. America seems to be following their example in a bid to retain its sole economic, political and military super-power status in the world. I wonder if US thirst for oil, wealth and power will ever be satiated?

Doesn't President Bush deserve to be impeached?
In 1998 President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for moral trupitude because of the Monica Lewensky and Paula Jones scandals. Compared to the widespread destruciton that President Bush's actions has wrought upon the world, Clinton's actions were relatively harmless and of a personal nature. But there is no word or even whisper about impeachment of President Bush.

• Is it because the majority of those killed, impoverished and suffering are not Americans?
• Is it because destruction has been heaped upon Iraq and not America?
• Or is it because America doesn't care for their own soldiers fighting and dieing in Iraq because of the blatant lies of their president?

Read More: Dallas Morning News

Price of Iraq War! Is it worth it?

America's global war on terror which started immediately after the the 9/11 WTO bombings by the Al Qaeda over seven years ago continues. Afghanistan seems to have been stabilised or rather at least there is no news about what's happening there. But Iraq is constantly in the news both within the US and outside. Iraq seems to be taking a huge toll on America both in terms of people and resources. Despite two bloody wars and continued battles in Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction has been recovered from Iraq. It is very clear to the entire world that American war on Iraq was for oil and has nothing to do with WMD or global terror or anything of that sort. Over the past few weeks I have noticed a surge in reporting on Iraq war and almost everyday there is one major article about the war in the newspapers. I read only one newspaper here, Dallas Morning News and my observations will be limited to what I have read.

Plight of Civilians in Iraq
A recent article highlighted the plight of civilians caught between Allied Forces (US, UK and others) and rebel militia. According to the article, Iraqis are suffering more now than under Saddam Hussein. Corruption is rampant, phones never work, electricity is available only 2-4 hours every day, taps go dry for several hours every day and when water does flow it is infested with worms and smells foul. Employees of the phone company, electric and water supplies routinely harass home owners for bribes. Majority of schools and colleges have been closed down as academics and teachers have fled the country. One housewife was quoted saying that though salaries were lesser during Saddam Hussein's reign they had decent services. Most civilians lead a meal to meal existence, doing grocery shopping every day for their daily needs.

Massive Death Toll
Recently the death toll of allied forces personnell reached an astronomical figure of 4,000. There has been a huge outcry about this in US and UK, two countries which account for the maximum casualities. But several articles which trumpeted this 4,000 number and also carried several follow-up stories on the subject have completely ignored civilian casualities due to the war. The number of civilian casualties in Iraq alone is estimated at 82,418-89,938 by Iraq Body Count, a website which documents civilian deaths in Iraq. A figure in excess of 20 times of military casualities. But civilians are Iraqis, why should we bother seems to be the attitude of the newspapers who don't bother even to spend one line to mention the number. Why did the war kill so many civilians? Is America justified in killing so many civilians while claiming that the war was to rescue them from a cruel dictator? These questions continue to be unanswered.

Financial Implications of the war
A whole country destroyed and demolished. Rebuilding will take away the possibility of a decent life for at least two generations of Iraqis. What right does any nation, including America has to devastate the lives of millions of innocent civilians? Is American's thirst for oil so much that the world of millions of people has to be destroyed to quench it?

The financial devastation of the war can be felt in America too. A research paper by Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes and Nobel-prizewinning Columbia economist Joseph Stiglitz claims that the final cost of the war to US could be $2 trillion — 10 times as high as the worst-case scenario of $200 billion suggested by a White House official before the war. The National Priorities website has a counter running and at the time of writing this article was $505,876,218,058. The website further reveals that the war costs as $4,681 per household; $1,721 per person and $341.4 million per day.

Troop Deployment
When the war started there were 250,000 men from US, 45,000 from UK, 2,000 from Australia and 194 from Poland. As I write this blog there is a 166,000-strong military inlcuding 10,500 from 27 countries fighting the war on the Allies side. Of course there are forces from contracted security agencies which total to 161,000 (53 percent (85,300) Iraqi, 17 percent (27,400) American, 30 percent (45,500) Others) and then there are 30,000 private mercenaries fighting on behalf of America.

Socio-cultural-economic impact
On the socio economic front the impact has been perhaps the highest, both in Iraq and in America. In Iraq of course the devastation has been the highest, with millions losing parents, brothers, spouses, children etc. Families have disintegrated not because of divorce but due to death and war. Children have been rendered orphans or separated from parents due to widespread demolition of the cities. Family structures have broken down with the more affluent and educated members fleeing the country to safer locations.

The impact in America has not been much different. Thus far there have been 16,000 soldiers who have been permanently disabled due to war. These people are entitled to receive payments for lifetime cost of disability and health care. To replace them recruitment budgets have to be enhanced.

With over 150,000 soldiers and officers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan there has been significant impact on their lives back home. According to a report in Time magasine there were 10,477 divorces in 2004, 8,367 in 2005 and data for subsequent years are available and will be published soon. That is an amazing number of broken homes and that many people under stress and combating depression.

Meanwhile on the domestic front in America, the economy is going south. Gas prices are rising, despite America being in total control of Iraqi oil. The common man is stretched to his limit. Job losses are common, hundreds of thousands of homes are facing foreclosure because the owners have lost jobs and are unable to pay mortgage. Where is the country heading towards? If the war continues more money has to be pumped into it.

Imagine if there was no war and the same amount of money ($ 2 trillion) were to be invested on poverty eradication, education and development programmes in Sub Saharan Africa or Asia. Better still if it was invested in various parts of America on technology enhancement, job creation and improvement of education infrastructure or bolstering university budgets wouldn't the dollar have achieved much more? Almost all universities across the US are announcing a steep hike in their tuition. I am pretty sure this could have been avoided if the country was not at war. Perhaps gas prices wouldn't have gone so high if there was no war.

Think of it, is this high price for the war worth? Your comments are welcome.

Information Sources:
Iraq Body Count
Iraq Coalition Casualities
Washington Post
Time Magazine
National Priorities website
Global Security
Wikipedia