Iraq war into 6th year, same old story...

[Father Demon]

Omg my plane is here!

Thank God.

[Cerevant]

Let's put that in perspective:
$12B / month, with 300 million Americans.  $40 million/month PER AMERICAN.

Canada spends ~$5000/year on health care, or ~$400/month.  We could spend 10 times that and not make a drop in the bucket of money being spent on the war.

Ummm... 12,0 00,000,000 / 3 00,000,000 = $40/American/month

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?  No, I say!

[Geowhizzer]

Let's put that in perspective:
$12B / month, with 300 million Americans.  $40 million/month PER AMERICAN.

Canada spends ~$5000/year on health care, or ~$400/month.  We could spend 10 times that and not make a drop in the bucket of money being spent on the war.

Ummm... 12,0 00,000,000 / 3 00,000,000 = $40/American/month

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?  No, I say!

Point is still the same, though - this war is just too darn expensive and unnecessary.

[Diomedes]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/30172.html

McClatchy Washington Bureau
Print This Article Print This Article

Posted on Thu, Mar. 13, 2008
Pentagon cancels release of controversial Iraq report
Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: March 13, 2008 07:35:16 PM

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network.

Rather than posting the report online and making officials available to discuss it, as had been planned, the U.S. Joint Forces Command said it would mail copies of the document to reporters — if they asked for it. The report won't be posted on the Internet

The reversal highlighted the politically sensitive nature of its conclusions, which were first reported Monday by McClatchy.

In making their case for invading Iraq in 2002 and 2003, President Bush and his top national security aides claimed that Saddam's regime had ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

But the study, based on more than 600,000 captured documents, including audio and video files, found that while Saddam sponsored terrorism, particularly against opponents of his regime and against Israel, there was no evidence of an al Qaida link.

The study comes at a difficult time for the Bush administration. The fifth anniversary of the Iraq war is approaching on March 19, and Bush is attempting to hold support for a continued large U.S. troop presence there following a report from his on-the-ground commander, Army Gen. David Petraeus, in early April.

Navy Capt. Dennis Moynihan, a spokesman for the Norfolk, Va.-based Joint Forces Command, said, "We're making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we'll send it out via CD in the mail."

Moynihan declined further comment.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, referred questions to Joint Forces Command.

An executive summary of the study says that Saddam's regime had interaction with terrorist groups, including Palestinian terror organizations and some pan-Islamic groups.

But "the predominant targets of Iraqi state terror operations were Iraqi citizens, both inside and outside of Iraq," says the summary, posted online by ABC News.

That confirms what many experts on Saddam's Iraq have long argued: that his security services were dedicated mainly to fighting threats to his rule.

The summary says that Saddam's secular regime increased cooperation with — and attempts to manipulate — Islamic fundamentalists after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, despite being leery of the Islamists. Iraqi leaders "concluded that in some cases, the benefits of associations outweighed the risks," it says.

(Nancy A. Youssef contributed to this report.)

[Phanatic]

I think everyone should have known there was no Al Qaeda link at the time. Al Qaeda's principles rail against the likes of Hussein and want only staunch closed Muslim societies where they can oppress everyone in the name of Allah. Hussein wanted to oppress everyone in his own name 'cause he liked his palaces.

The Iraq war was for oil we all know that on some level. Here's a great article from the post.

A Crude Case For War?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031403677.html

[Drunkmasterflex]

Just a little bit of what we have done so far.  We have found as a Company over 300 IEDs so far cleared something like over 3000 kms.  The most significant thing about that is, not one US soldier has died on a route we have cleared so far.  If it stays that way, we certainly will have a lot to be proud of.  My platoon alone has found over 100 IEDs.  Not the safest job in the world, but there is a least a small bit of satisfaction gained by doing it. 

[4and26]

Just a little bit of what we have done so far.  We have found as a Company over 300 IEDs so far cleared something like over 3000 kms.  The most significant thing about that is, not one US soldier has died on a route we have cleared so far.  If it stays that way, we certainly will have a lot to be proud of.  My platoon alone has found over 100 IEDs.  Not the safest job in the world, but there is a least a small bit of satisfaction gained by doing it. 

Stay safe man...

Another Canadian dies in Afghanistan    http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/03/17/soldier-canadian.html

[Cerevant]

While the Canadians are cranky about being at war, at least they are fighting where the terrorists are, not where the oil is. (Plenty of oil up here)

[PhillyGirl]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/19/bush.iraq/index.html

[ice grillin you]

time for a "edit thread title"

[General_Failure]

No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure

[Diomedes]

you have no idea how much mithril we've poured into Iraq

[General_Failure]

Iraq must be doing its blacksmithing quest.

[SD_Eagle5]

Frodo Baggins is in Iraq?

[Cerevant]

That's the problem, we've been using the wrong damn dice!