Iraq 101

Submitted by Ashevillein on

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If you have never been a Mother Jones reader, there is no time like the present to begin. Their March 1st issue has a great break-down on who, what, where, when and why in Iraq. With graphs like the one above and quotes like this...

The war costs American taxpayers $1.9 billion a week, or $275 million a day. If the U.S. had not invaded, militarily containing Saddam through 2015 would have cost an estimated $23 million a day.

Gee, sure seems like a good decision to invade, huh? Oh, yeah, I guess it does if you (and your friends) are the ones getting all that money.

And that canard about "fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here?" Remember that one? That fighting in Iraq would reduce the terror threat?

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Funny thing happened there... from the article...

Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, the scene of almost half the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks. But even excluding Iraq and Afghanistan—the other current jihadist hot spot—there has been a 35 percent rise in the number of attacks, with a 12 percent rise in fatalities.

Hmmm. So, tell me again, why are we there?

And, we (the US, that is) are helping the poor, misplaced Iraqi population, right?

1.6 million Iraqis have been displaced within the country. As many as 1.8 million have left Iraq, with 3,000 fleeing daily. Saudi Arabia is building a 560-mile border fence to keep them out. As many as 700,000 Iraqi refugees now live in Jordan. More than 60,000 live in Sweden. Only 202 were admitted to the United States last year.

Yep, that's right. See, the religious reich does not want any more brown people in "their" Christian USA, so... to bad there comrades, no land of the big PX for you. Not this war, anyway.

So, for our "president's" sake, let's hope this helps him out.

Comments

Disposition of wealth.

Submitted by Robert P. on

I saw this over at Ezra Klein's place:

So when inequality shot up in the late-90s, the data shows the epicenters of the increase were in Northern California, Washington (where Microsoft is based), and Manhattan (where the banks doing all the IPOs are located).

But the tech bust deflated those counties. The inequality divide, however, has surged again under Bush, but the gains have centered near the capital, in counties flush with defense spending and government contracts. It is, in other words, military-industrial complex inequality.

Sort of sums up for me the whole "Why are we at War?" question.

Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me

Great post.

Submitted by James on

I love MJ. Thanks for reminding me what a great magazine it is.