Iraq
The US is now the "occupying power" in Iraq. How is it progressing? What are the patterns ... or contrasts? Are there parallels to Israel's role in the occupied territories?
Monday, March 17, 2008
iraq war costs: could have (a) fixed Social Security for the next 75 years
Sunday, March 16, 2008 by The Boston Globe | Another Year, Another $300 Billion | by Linda Bilmes...
So far the federal government has spent $600 billion on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (government accounts make it hard to separate the two). However this figure is just the “burn rate” spent on combat operations, such as transportation, equipment, supplementary combat stipends, and paying the 100,000 contractors employed to support the war effort.
That $600 billion figure ignores four major costs. First, there are additional war-related costs buried in places such as the non-Iraq defense budget. That budget has grown by $500 billion cumulatively since the beginning of the war. ...
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Second, the $600 billion excludes the cost of providing medical care and disability compensation for veterans. ...
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Third, the $600 billion does not take into account the cost to “reset” the military - to replace equipment and restore personnel to prewar levels of readiness. ...
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Perhaps most painful to consider is the opportunity cost: the money spent on the war could have fixed Social Security for the next 75 years or provided health insurance to all American children. ...
The sea of oil under Iraq : one third is diverted to the black market: “It’s the money pit of the insurgency,”
Iraq’s Insurgency Is Running on Stolen Oil Profits | By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. | Published: March 16, 2008...
The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.
“It’s the money pit of the insurgency,” said Capt. Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery. ...
Millions of Iraqis have little or no access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare, five years after the US-led invasion, according to the Red Cros
Bleak picture of Iraq conditions | 17 March 2008Millions of Iraqis have little or no access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare, five years after the US-led invasion, according to the Red Cross.
The Swiss-based agency says Iraq's humanitarian situation is "among the most critical in the world".
It warned that despite better security in some areas, millions had been left essentially to fend for themselves.
Some families spend a third of their average monthly wage of $150 (£75) just buying clean water, the report found.
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Iraqi hospitals lack qualified staff and basic drugs, facilities are not properly maintained and public hospitals provide only 30,000 beds, less than half of the 80,000 needed, the Red Cross reports. ...
