One Year Later
War without end?
(Courtesy 2003 Ted Rall)
The casualty count is still rising daily.
Over 650 Coalition troops (including over 550 American servicepeople)
have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and over 3,200 have been
injured. Thousands of Iraqis have also been killed and injured.
The price for all military families is high. Reservists, National Guard members and their families are being hit especially hard.
Soon, 40% of all troops serving in Iraq will be either reservists or
National Guard members[LA Times, 2/22/04]. Many of these soldiers
thought they would be serving overseas for six months. Now, they're
being told they'll be spending a year or more in Iraq. Thousands of
families had less than a week's notice to prepare for this separation
[Washington Post, 1/21/04].
Families of reservists and Guard members don't have the established
support resources that families of full-time soldiers have at
military bases. Many of these families will have to get by on less
money since reservists and Guard members often receive less money for
their service than their regular jobs pay.
The Bush administration has not been up-front with the American people about the reasons for going to war, or about the costs of the war.
In the run-up to the war, President Bush said that the United States
"must not ignore the treat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence
of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that
could come in the form of a mushroom cloud... We have every reason to
assume the worst, and we have an urgent duty to prevent the worst from
occurring." [Washington Post, 1/28/2002]
That was not the message that he was getting from the intelligence
community. Here's what CIA Director George Tenet said about the
National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, which summarized the pre-war
views of the intelligence community: "Let me be clear: analysts
differed on several important aspects of these programs, and those
debates were spelled out in the Estimate. They never said there was an
'imminent' threat." [Transcript of 2/5/04 speech at Georgetown
University]
The Pentagon's year 2005 budget doesn't contain any money for military
operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. The White House won't ask Congress
for that money until January 2005 - after the November presidential
election. [Knight Ridder Newspapers, 2/11/04]
The Bush administration needs to face accountability for its actions, rather
than looking for congratulations from Congress.
Even Bush's own top weapons inspector, David Kay, called on the
administration to admit that there are no weapons of mass
destruction, "I think in this case, the evidence is out there to
the extent that the president really needs to say to the American
people, ‘We made a mistake.’" [NBC News 3/15/04]
Congress has the responsibility to hold the President Bush accountable
for his actions, and should censure him for misleading the American
people.
(Talking points courtesy Moveon.org)