There's so much information on this topic so I'm going to present the history of Iraq and then the Iraqi War numbers.
HISTORY
PARAPHRASED AND QUOTED FROM WIKIPEDIAYou may remember something about Mesopotamia (3000 B.C.) and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from your high school history class or perhaps earth sciences. This is the area that Iraq exists within today. It was inhabited by the Sumerians, then the Babylonians (no, not the people from Babylon 5), then the Assyrians, then the Persians, so forth and so on. Alexander the Great and the Greeks took over at one point in time as well. In other words, lots of cultures and peoples have called this land their own over the centuries.
The longest period of rule was by the Ottoman Empire, from roughly the 16th century until World War I. At that time, the Ottomans sided with the Germans and the Central Powers in the war. The British captured Baghdad in 1917 and an armistice was signed in 1918. “On 11 November 1920 it became a League of Nations mandate under British control with the name ‘State of Iraq’.” The British turned it into a monarchy and did not take into account the different ethnic groups when dividing it up into territories (especially the Kurds and Assyrians to the north, meaning they supported the Sunni population mainly). During the Brits occupation, the Shi’ites and the Kurds fought for independence. British occupation came to an end in 1932 when the mandate officially ended.
In 1948, Iraq was a part of the war against the newly formed State of Israel. Iraq never signed the cease-fire agreement. They did however sign the Baghdad Pact in 1956 which allied them with Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The Pact “committed the nations to mutual cooperation and protection, as well as non-intervention in each other's affairs.”
The monarchy established by the British was overthrown by the “Free Officers”, a military group inspired by the words of an Egyptian leader named Nassar who criticized the legitimacy of the monarchy. At that time, the Baghdad Pact ceased and a republic was formed.
At one point in the 60’s, Iraq tried to challenge the sovereignty of Kuwait when it gained independence from the British but was forced to back down by the British. They would continue to have border disputes with Kuwait and Iran well into the 70’s. “In retrospect, the 1970s can be seen as a high point in Iraq's modern history. A new, young, technocratic elite was governing the country and the fast-growing economy brought prosperity and stability.”
In 1979, the president at that time resigned and this was the point that Saddam Hussein took over the country. Territorial disputes with Iran resulted in an eight year war with Iran that in the end was won by neither side. The invasion of Kuwait in 1990 would result in the Gulf War. After the Gulf War, the United Nations would impose economic sanctions on the country “providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity”. These sanctions “were linked to removal of weapons of mass destruction by Resolution 687”.
And think we all remember what happened starting in May 2003. If not, Wikipedia has more information on it here.
THE NUMBERS
According to Friends Committee on National Legislation (as of 6/2006):
CASUALTIES
ARMED FORCES
U.S. Killed -- 2,500
U.S. Wounded -- 18,356
U.S. MIA -- 1
U.K. Killed -- 113
U.K. Wounded -- 83
U.K. MIA -- 0
IRAQI Killed -- 6,400
IRAQI Wounded -- UnknownCIVILIANS
IRAQI
Killed -- 5000
Wounded -- 8000
COALITION CIVILIANS & CONTRACTORS Killed -- 337 (from 36 different countries)
JOURNALISTS -- 99
UNITED NATIONS -- 16
COST OF WAR
Original estimate: 25 billion to fight; $4 billion/month
Cost as of 6/2006: $480 billion
Post-war Reconstruction donations (in millions)
U.S. -- $550
UK -- $330
Australia -- $100
Japan -- $100
Spain -- $56
Norway -- $21
Netherlands -- $21
According to WIKIPEDIA:
CASUALTIES
ARMED FORCES
U.S. Killed -- 3,921
U.S. Wounded 8,691 (medical air transport required)
U.S. Wounded 19,970 (no medical air transport required)
NOTE: Of all the wounded 12,912 were unable to return to duty within 72 hours.
IRAQI Security forces and police: 6,327 police and 3,463 soldiers killedCIVILIANS
JOURNALISTS: 114 (plus 40 media support workers)
CONTRACTORS: 933 (both U.S. and other countries)
AID WORKERS: 95
COST OF WAR
$474 billion has been spent as of 12/2007
SOAPBOX AREA!!
After reading the history of Iraq and understanding it a little more clearly, I'm thinking to myself, why are WE cleaning this mess up? The British started it, it's THEIR BLOODY mess! Okay, okay, that's probably unreasonable. I really like British people, British music, Monty Python and London was fabulous. :) So please, no hate mail.
But more seriously, I never did agree with this war. The link of Saddam Hussein to 911 was disproven by the September 11 commission so that reason is out the window (unlike so many people tout) and no WMDs were found. So why do I think we're in this war? War is big money, for the consulting companies and all of the people who have their hands in the pockets of the President, Vice President (hello, Halliburton) and the rest of the politicians in Washington.
As for the whole concept "if you don't support the war, you don't support our troops" -- please, stop for a minute and really give that some thought. How is putting them in harm's way in a war which didn't really need to be started SUPPORTING THEM? Wouldn't it make more sense that supporting them would mean returning them to their family and friends in ONE piece with all of their senses in tact?
Now that being said, I do think our troops are doing an excellent job with what they've been given. They just need leaders that can come up with a better resolution than throw more bodies at it. And truth be told, they NEED to finish that job because if not, we'll end up with another unstable area like Afghanistan (see section named "Soviet invasion and civil war" within this page) which has been determined as a "terrorist breeding ground". Then we'd be no better than those darned Brits! Again, Brits, just kidding! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!
The thing that makes me most angry about this is the money being spent on it. We could use that money for really important things HERE in AMERICA. Education for one (which I will be covering next week). How about that immigration problem? Or Homeland Security? Bring the troops home and secure the borders?
Wow, okay I think I've gone far enough. I'm guessing this post isn't very "flame retardant". I expect I'll be getting a few comments on this one. :)
