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Operation Iraqi Freedom (view source)
Revision as of 21:43, September 9, 2010
, 21:43, September 9, 2010This article is a bit of a mess, but Rwanda genocide denier and Saddam admirer Clark's statistics have been replaced with valid data. The Fox article was outdated and had to be replaced.
Since the war is not yet over, the total cost has yet to be tallied. However, the [[Congressional Budget Office]] estimates that the war has, as of 3/12/2007, cost less than $400 Billion.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/200703120024 Iraq: the hidden cost of the war]</ref> The National Priorities Project, though, indicates that the war costs some $195,000 '''per minute''', according to numbers based on Congressional appropriations, and the tally had reached $412.8 billion as of 3/30/2007.<ref>http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182</ref> A 2008 study estimated that the Iraq War cost the United States $12 billion a month.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_costs;_ylt=ApGg20eC4zcjyEaIxwc8CC6s0NUE Studies: Iraq costs US $12 billion per month]</ref> This makes the Iraq war the most expensive endeavor in U.S. history.
Since the war is not yet over, the total cost has yet to be tallied. However, the [[Congressional Budget Office]] estimates that the war has, as of 3/12/2007, cost less than $400 Billion.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/200703120024 Iraq: the hidden cost of the war]</ref> The National Priorities Project, though, indicates that the war costs some $195,000 '''per minute''', according to numbers based on Congressional appropriations, and the tally had reached $412.8 billion as of 3/30/2007.<ref>http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182</ref> A 2008 study estimated that the Iraq War cost the United States $12 billion a month.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_costs;_ylt=ApGg20eC4zcjyEaIxwc8CC6s0NUE Studies: Iraq costs US $12 billion per month]</ref> This makes the Iraq war the most expensive endeavor in U.S. history.
==Casualties==
==Death Toll Under Saddam Versus War==
According to the estimates of the current government of Iraq, it is estimated that well over one million Iraqis were murdered by or "disappeared" under the rule of Saddam’s regime.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/23/allawi.transcript/</ref> By the time of the invasion, Saddam's regime was killing people at a rate of 15 to 20 thousand per year.<ref>http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/889tngrz.asp?page=3&pg=2</ref>
Methods of torture employed by Saddam's regime included: amputation of tongues, crucifixion, eye-gouging, genital electric shock, gang rape, mutilation with electric drills and vats of acid, imprisonment in confined spaces in darkness for years at a time, and the amputation of limbs.
Veteran BBC correspondent John Sweeney said during Saddam's rule: "I have been to Baghdad a number of times. Being in Iraq is like creeping around inside someone else’s migraine. The fear is so omnipresent you could almost eat it. No one talks."
Saddam's deliberate manipulation of the sanctions regime cost the lives of tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, most of whom were women and children.<ref>http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1999/09/iraq99.htm</ref> Researcher Richard Garfield estimated "a minimum of 100,000 and a more likely estimate of 227,000 excess deaths among young children from August 1991 through March 1998" from all causes including sanctions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.casi.org.uk/info/garfield/dr-garfield.html |title=Morbidity and Mortality Among Iraqi Children |publisher=Casi.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2009-06-15}}</ref> It is a matter of public record that the sanctions specifically exempted food and medicine; that they applied only to weaponry; that Iraq had far more humanitarian supplies available to it under the Oil For Food program (first offered to Iraq in 1992) than it would have had over the same period based on the trends that existed ''before'' the Gulf War; and that excess deaths did not occur in the North of Iraq, where the US and UN administered the same program under the same sanctions regime, but only in those parts of Iraq were Saddam was charged with rationing the humanitarian supplies.<ref>http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1999/09/iraq99.htm</ref> The number of deaths Saddam caused by refusing to allow aid to reach his people for propaganda purposes is disputed, but his cynical nature can be observed by the fact that he wildly exaggerated the number of people he was killing in order to blame them all on the UN and US. Since the fall of Saddam, independent research from the CIA has found that roughly 5,000 children were dying every year from Saddam's manipulation of the sanctions, in addition to the 3 or 4 times that number he was killing annually by other means.<ref>http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/224705.php</ref> Therefore, by 2013, Saddam would have killed (roughly) between 200,000 and 250,000 Iraqis had he remained in power.
===Coalition Troop Casualties===
According to the US Department of Defense, over 4,200 U.S. and 300 troops from coalition countries have died in the war. Over 30,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat.<ref>[http://www.defenselink.mil Department of Defense]</ref> Despite a dramatic decrease in violence in the latter half of the year, 2007 was the worst year in Iraq in terms of U.S. casualties. Over 900 American troops died or went [[missing in action]] during the year.<ref>[www.icasualties.org Iraq War casualties]</ref>
According to the US Department of Defense, over 4,200 U.S. and 300 troops from coalition countries have died in the war. Over 30,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat.<ref>[http://www.defenselink.mil Department of Defense]</ref> Despite a dramatic decrease in violence in the latter half of the year, 2007 was the worst year in Iraq in terms of U.S. casualties. Over 900 American troops died or went [[missing in action]] during the year.<ref>[www.icasualties.org Iraq War casualties]</ref>
===Enemy Casualties===
===Enemy Casualties===
In March, 2007, Larry Schweikart, Professor of History at the University of Dayton, a military historian, calculated that, "a low estimate is that we have removed from the order of battle about 210,000 on the low end to 360,000 on the high end. This is an entire generation of jihadists, and will, if nothing else, significantly feminize Muslim society." <ref> http://newsbyus.com/more.php?id=7673_0_1_0_M </ref>
===Civilian Casualties===
===Civilian Casualties===
The anti-war Iraq Body Count website has chronicled and tallied virtually all reported Iraqi civilian deaths from the war that have multiple sources in print, coming to a present total of 98-107,000 deaths.<ref>http://www.iraqbodycount.org/</ref> However, this sum certainly understates the case to a considerable extent, given that the total number of deaths could not all have been reported and tallied. It is safe to say that their tally reflects a ''majority'' of the deaths, thus an estimate higher than 200,000 dead would seem extremely unlikely. On November 11, 2006, Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shamari estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians had been killed during the war.<ref>[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/11/11/2003335773 Iraq death toll may go as high as 150,000]</ref> A 2008 estimate by the [[World Health Organization]] placed the civilian death toll at 151,000.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080110/wl_nm/iraq_deaths_survey_dc 151,000 Iraqis killed since U.S.-led invasion: WHO]</ref>
Based on a careful analysis of IBC's figures, only 1-2% of Iraqi civilian deaths during the occupation were caused by US troops, and the rest by the insurgency they were combating.<ref>http://www.aina.org/news/2007110894701.jsp</ref> The American army in Iraq has taken ''three times'' as many casualties as it has inflicted on Iraqi civilians in collateral damage, which must be a first in the history of military occupation.<ref>http://www.aina.org/news/2007110894701.jsp</ref> The US invasion killed an additional 3,000<ref> http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html</ref> to 7,000<ref> http://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/year-four/</ref> Iraqi civilians, and at least 7,600–10,800 Iraqi combatants. <ref> http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html</ref>
On November 11, 2006, Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shamari estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians had been killed during the war.<ref>[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/11/11/2003335773 Iraq death toll may go as high as 150,000]</ref> A 2008 estimate by the [[World Health Organization]] placed the civilian death toll at 151,000.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080110/wl_nm/iraq_deaths_survey_dc 151,000 Iraqis killed since U.S.-led invasion: WHO]</ref>
==Summary of Justifications for the Iraq War Taken From This Entry==
==Summary of Justifications for the Iraq War Taken From This Entry==