Iraq 5th anniversaryshock & awe: 5 years later

 

On March 19, 2003, President Bush started his invasion of Iraq with aerial bombardments that were euphemistically called “Shock and Awe.” Then on May 1, 2003, Bush landed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared, “Mission Accomplished.”

Five years later, the fighting goes on, the pentagon puts the number of American soldiers killed over 4000, with close to 30,000 wounded.

 

So far, Bush has spent nearly $600 billion, and several economists have said that the war in Iraq will cost around $3 trillion because of the healthcare that will be required for many of the wounded for the rest of their lives and the cost of replacing the military equipment damaged, destroyed or simply used up in the conflict.

To mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war, Bush, in a speech at the pentagon, said the war’s legacy is absolute: “The world is better, and the United States of America is safer.” He went on to say, “No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq.”

Bush offers no end to the War, and, if Sen. McCain is elected president, he, too, has vowed to continue the fighting.

 

Vice President Dick Cheney was out fishing with the Sultan of Oman on the fifth anniversary. But in a recent interview, Cheney was told that two thirds of Americans want to end the War now and bring the troops home, and the vice president said, “So?”

His response is typical and shows his lack of respect for the American people.

Maybe it was best that he went fishing. I’m guessing that the Sultan has turned down any hunting trips with the vice president.

In January 2007, President Bush announced his plan for the surge; he added an additional 30,000 troops that he said would be deployed for about six months, which has now turned into a year.

In January 2008, in Bush’s last State of the Union address, he said that some troops would start to come home this year. Only a few thousand troops have returned, and only because their 18- month deployment forced their return.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Bush said that no more troops would be coming back because they are still needed in Iraq, because everything is going so well.

In Afghanistan, there are about 40,000 US and NATO troops. NATO and the pentagon are calling for more troops because things are worse than ever before, so any troops that leave Iraq could very well end up in Afghanistan.

Bush has always tried to link Saddam to al-Qaeda to 911, even though our intelligence agencies have said that Saddam never had anything to do with al-Qaeda and that Saddam despised al-Qaeda. Bush even once said that Saddam had nothing to do with 911.

 

Well, now there is a group in Iraq who calls themselves al-Qaeda, which was never there before the war; there are Shiites, Sunnis and other foreign fighters who are trying to kill Americans, but al-Qaeda is the group that gets blamed for most of the violence, even though the Pentagon said less than two percent of those we are fighting are al-Qaeda. But Bush seems happy with his self-fulfilling prophecy, and there are no plans to end his war.

Bush has been wondering a lot lately about his legacy. There are many choices that those in the future will have to look back upon, and I am guessing that Bush’s legacy will not be seen as something positive.

 

Happy anniversary!