Billions wasted in Iraq...already.

[Garbarsardar]

Since President Bush rendered his judgement of "mission accomplished," more than 2,200 Americans are now dead. About 20,000 have since been wounded. Many hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money expended, and now Iraqi is engaged in a civil war, the degree of which is unknown and debatable. A new CNN poll shows only 9 per cent of Americans believe the US has accomplished its mission in Iraq; 84 per cent do not.And when asked if the US will eventually accomplish its aim, 49 per cent said yes, 44 per cent no.
The Senate will wrap up consideration of a record-setting, $106.5 billion emergency spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and also ongoing Gulf Coast hurricane relief. Will the "war" run out of money?

A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In one case, the inspection team found that three years after the invasion only six of 150 health centres proposed for Iraq had been completed by a US contractor, in spite of 75% of the $186m (£100m) allocated having been spent.The report says: "Fourteen more will be completed by the contractor, and the remaining facilities, which are partially constructed, will have to be completed by other means." The inspectors blame the failure in this instance on management problems and security concerns.

Up to last month, Washington had invested more than $265m to improve the protection of energy infrastructure in Iraq.Task Force Shield sought to cover 340 key installations, 4,000 miles of oil pipeline, and 8,000 miles of electrical transmission lines. In a separate section, the report notes that a former contractor and former senior staffer in the now defunct US-led coalition government are facing jail sentences 30 to 40 years on corruption charges.The contractor will have to pay $3.6m in restitution and forfeit $3.6m in assets.

Apart from mismanagement and corruption, the report identifies continuing attacks by Iraqi insurgents as one of the main reasons for the delays and failures. It says: "Insurgent activity continues to impede ongoing reconstruction projects and interrupt their transition to Iraqi control. "But the attacks remain concentrated in a few areas, leaving daily life in much of the rest of Iraq - particularly the Kurdish north and some areas of the south - in a state of gradual recovery."

Congress has approved $21bn for reconstruction since the invasion, of which 67% has been allocated. Precisely how much has been squandered is not known but the congressional team has been carrying out investigations and publishes quarterly reports. Last year the congressional team reported that almost $9bn in Iraqi oil revenues disbursed to ministries had gone missing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1765048,00.html

[internationalist]

Woo but my school cannot even get enough textbooks to effectively teach Chinese History!

[danzig]

Woo but my school cannot even get enough textbooks to effectively teach Chinese History!

Well then you should be complaining to your local/state goverment since that is where the issue is. If federal money wasnt being used the war in Iraq it would be used for something else and it wouldnt be your text books.

[internationalist]

Well then you should be complaining to your local/state goverment since that is where the issue is. If federal money wasnt being used the war in Iraq it would be used for something else and it wouldnt be your text books.

Hmm. This is a choice that the government makes, to spend money on war/the military budget rather than on education. What is more important, I ask you, funding education adequately or fighting a war against Saddam Hussein, who was a threat to aproximately no-one.
Essentially, regardless of what administration we are talking about, I think that it would be nice if the U.S. took education as seriously as they take building a bad-A military. e.g. subsidized higher education, etc.

[danzig]

Hmm. This is a choice that the government makes, to spend money on war/the military budget rather than on education. What is more important, I ask you, funding education adequately or fighting a war against Saddam Hussein, who was a threat to aproximately no-one.

And Im saying it wouldnt make a difference, in case you arent award Fed goverment underfunds pretty much every educational initiative it creates and that goes well beyond Bush Presidency so your lack of textbooks has nothing to do with Saddam or Iraq...if there was no Iraq some senator would weasel the money to build another useless bridge to no where and other pet projects. Your text book problem unless your state is magically different then mine is at the local/state level. Education is just a talking point for republicans an democrats at federal level.

[Oldgamer]

And Im saying it wouldnt make a difference, in case you arent award Fed goverment underfunds pretty much every educational initiative it creates and that goes well beyond Bush Presidency so your lack of textbooks has nothing to do with Saddam or Iraq...

And this is the way it should be. Education is a state and local function. It should not be a federal matter.

@Garbarsardar
The young Iraqi men that I trained, in the buildup to Fallujah, didn't consider our expense in treasury and blood wasted. Indeed, they were positively enthusiastic about the toppling of Saddam, and the opportunity to serve their country in a meaningful way.

Concerning the casualties, in the first week of the attempt to liberate Guam from the Japanese, six thousand Marines died. How long has it been since our troops went into Iraq? Perspective is needed ...

[trackjacket]

Saddam Hussein, who was a threat to aproximately no-one.

I don't think that's an accurate statement. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iranians would disagree and so would most Kuwaitis and Saudis. Just sayin....

[Dirty Harry]

I think whenever the govt is overseeing major administration/construction projects, or otherwise handing out blank cheques without very good oversight, there will always be huge amounts of waste. Same happens in every western country.

[Dirty Harry]

you gonna really argue technicalities like that while using wikipedia as a source?

[danzig]

you gonna really argue technicalities like that while using wikipedia as a source?

Shrug 6000 dead in one week vs figures that show 3000 dead for entire battle is more then a minor detail and Im not 'arguing' it Im asking there is a difference

[Ó Cathasaigh]

Uh, okay, Someone who's been involved in the military and warfare for the last 30-40 years (oldgamer) lacks perspective and somehow a young (i'm guessing mid 20's) kid who's joining the military police (or so I've read) somehow has more perspective?

I think I trust the Veteran of Oldgamer to the rookie of Rapax.

[Rapax]

Uh, okay, Someone who's been involved in the military and warfare for the last 30-40 years (oldgamer) lacks perspective and somehow a young (i'm guessing mid 20's) kid who's joining the military police (or so I've read) somehow has more perspective?

I think I trust the Veteran of Oldgamer to the rookie of Rapax.

Opinions are like *******s, never heard of that? I don't give much on who you trust either way since you have your bunch of trusted...uhm..."comrades" that you agree with and are happy with, so excuse if I'm not shocked that you don't care about my opinion. It's not like 30 years of military experience give oldgamer the "I'm always right"-card, I'm a little harder to impress than that.

[Erik]

The American PEOPLE wanted this war, so they shouldn't complain that they have to pay for it now.
Apparently having a Big-A military IS more important to the American people than having good education.

[danzig]

The American PEOPLE wanted this war, so they shouldn't complain that they have to pay for it now.
Apparently having a Big-A military IS more important to the American people than having good education.

As always you show an amazing level of ignorance in your view of the 'american people', also there is no reference to the 'american people' complaining about the cost to the original post but the article talks about the money being poorly used.

[Erik]

As always you show an amazing level of ignorance in your view of the 'american people', also there is no reference to the 'american people' complaining about the cost to the original post but the article talks about the money being poorly used.

Or was I being sarcastic? we might never know.

[danzig]

Or was I being sarcastic? we might never know.

You were being sarcastic about a point that had nothing to do with the thread or the original article and completely out of context of the thread? Uh huh sure if you say so! :laughing: I prefer to believe you were being what you usually are, wrong.

[Ó Cathasaigh]

Opinions are like *******s, never heard of that?

hmm, maybe you should look into that yourself, you're quite an opinionated young man.

I don't give much on who you trust either way since you have your bunch of trusted...uhm..."comrades" that you agree with and are happy with, so excuse if I'm not shocked that you don't care about my opinion.

I value your opinion, what I don't value is your attitude of superiority over someone who's had much more life experiance in this field.

It's not like 30 years of military experience give oldgamer the "I'm always right"-card, I'm a little harder to impress than that.

It may not give him the "I'm always right"-card but it sure adds to his credibility.

[Sidmen]

OK, education isn't an issue here at all... First off, the federal government doesn't fund the school system, that is a state funded service. Second off, what would you rather do: Leave now and say 'good luck, try not to hate us in the future' or to rebuild thier country and try to make them like us enough to not want to kill us.

[Legio XX Valeria Victrix]

Here's a different perspective for you:

We didn't have to invade Iraq in the first place. All that WMD bull, the democracy stuff, all of it. We didn't need to go in. As so many have rightly said, it was a war of choice, not necessity.

So, by that perspective and the reality of what is going on in Iraq right now (some good, lots bad), 2,500 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis are dead for a choice, and a poor one at that.

Compare it to Guam 1943 all you want. Those Marines died for a purpose. In the end, only time will tell if those who have died in Iraq will have died for a tangible purpose, but as of now...I at least would say that the jury is still out on that one.

[removeduser_487563287433]

It would be hard to argue that the Iraq War has been handled well. In fact, anything but disasterously.

The governments of the invading forces lied to their people and the international community about Saddam having WMDs. Their evidence for this lie was discovered to be a thinly plaigarised student's paper. A pretty disgusting fact, right there.

The invasion itself was poorly planned and suffered horrible international reactions. The Iraq War has led to the election of Hamas in Palestine and a ludicrously anti-west President in Iran.

And to this day people are dying in a job well done and Iraq is in ruins, suffering for barely any public services. Garbage is piling in the streets, because even the garbage men have become targets for insurgents.