War...who is it good for?

A question so often asked, and so rarely answered. Okay, some wars have been, as far as war goes, justifiable. A war fought over civil liberties, fought to retain freedom, or to take it back. War for equality. The basic problem, of course, is that the war would not have been necessary in the first place had those involved in the war...the oppressors, for now, simply acted with compassion and concsience as their guiding influence. This war, however, the Iraqi invasion, is the real puzzler. Not that it is, but that it has been allowed to go on for so long.

Whether it began over money, oil, regional domination, placement for the eventual attack on Iran or purely for power is beyond me. I hope that one day we are privy to the answer. I remember when Bush initially spoke of waging war on Iraq...I thought that he could not possibly succeed in his ridiculous mission. I so naively believed that our "elected representatives" would give him the thump on the back of the head that was so clearly in order and that we would get back to the business at hand...you know, sifting through all of the crap we were being fed and figure out who was really responsible for whatever actually happened to all of those people on 9/11. But that never happened. Six years later, that still has not happened. Instead, we are up to our elbows in dead or wounded American soldiers. The Iraqi people suffer in ways that Saddam Hussein never made them suffer. Certainly, there are some factions in Iraq that benefit from our presence, but they are dramatically outweighed by those who would rather see their homes without holes blown in them, those who would gladly live under the rule of the mustachioed "tyrant" if only that meant that their husbands, their children,their loved ones were still in their arms. Who wins in this war?

In a report released by the World Health Organization on September 10, 2007 it was stated that an outbreak of cholera had surfaced in Iraq, with 3,182 cases reported, including 9 deaths. This was likely caused by poor sanitation brought about by the ravages to their irrigation systems throughout the course of this war. According to the report, residents in Iraq have gone for weeks at a time without running water, forced instead to draw water from the same river that livestock drinks from, and walks through. The same river that they have washed their clothes in, the same river that has been contaminated by the residue of chemicals from the bombs, IEDs, and God knows what else that was detonated nearby. People are suffering as a result of the US occupation of Iraq, not benefiting. They never asked for our help. There was no impassioned plea from the Iraqi people for liberation. Our young men and women, their innocent children and loved ones are being slaughtered in a blood bath that they never had a choice in. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with this. The real tyrant sleeps in a cushy bed every night. He is surrounded by his loved ones. He flies wherever he pleases in a big jet, so high above the havoc wrought by his decree. Shock and Awe indeed...

According to the not for profit site icasualties.org, as of September 13, the Department of Defense has confirmed 3,768 US casualties since the invasion of Iraq, and 27,186 badly wounded. By the same source, the DoD confirmed 122 self inflicted deaths. icasualties.org also reports 44,115 Iraq deaths since January 2005, although the number of Iraqi deaths is highly contentious due to the unreliable reporting of such casualties. Other sources, such as the Health Ministry, estimate the death toll to be between 100,000 and 150,000 as of November of 2006. Regardless of the actual figures, the loss of life in this debacle is mind boggling...and for what? Certainly not to liberate the Iraqi people. Don't believe the hype!

BBC and ABC teamed up to commission a poll taken in the streets of Iraq in late August of 2007. The poll asked Iraqi citizens to comment on the US "surge" tactic over the past six months.

"The United States has increased the number of its forces in Baghdad and surrounding provinces in the past six months. Please tell me if you think this increase of forces has made it better, worse, or had no effect?"

The question had six subcatergories:
"Security in the areas where the 'surge' forces are sent"
70% of Iraqis said WORSE
"Security in other areas of Iraq?"
69% of Iraqis said WORSE
"Condition for political dialogue in Iraq?"
70% of Iraqis said WORSE
"Ability of Iraqi government to carry out its work?"
65% of Iraqis said WORSE
"Pace of reconstruction in Iraq?"
65% of Iraqis said WORSE
"Pace of economic development in Iraq?"
68% of Iraqis said WORSE

When asked if when they thought "coalition" forces should pull out, a whopping 47% of Iraqi citizens said NOW

57% of the Iraqi people now believe attacks on "coalition" forces to be acceptable.

Why are we still in their country, when they are so evidently waiting for us to go? Who is this war good for?

*view the poll in its entirety at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6983027.stm