George Bush Has Put a Bigger Hurt on America than Has Osama bin Laden
Wanted - Dead or Alive? 
I have been posting on this theme at least twice a year for years. And every year, doing the simple arithmetic paints an increasingly uglier picture.
Now that George Bush has had three quarters of a decade to drive America to I-wreck and I-ruin, the truth is incontrovertible: Bush's illegal, un-provoked, unnecessary, and largely unilateral invasion and unplanned occupation of Iraq has cost our nation more in blood and treasure than has Osama bin Laden.
Contrast the bloodshed caused by al Qaeda in America seven and a half years ago with the sacrifices of our troops in Iraq, beginning five years ago tonight.
OBL: Total Deaths - All 9/11 Attacks: 3,030
OBL: Total Injuries - All 9/11 Attacks: 2,337
GWB: Total US KIA in Iraq: 3,990
GWB: Total U.S. WIA in Iraq: 13,138
What I realized when I last posted on this theme on 11 September 2007, was that it can be argued - as I vehemently have argued - that a massive American retaliation against Afghanistan was not only justified by the 9-11 attacks, but was mandated. Thus, our costs sustained in Operation Enduring Freedom are expenses (in blood and treasure) which are directly attributable to the 9-11 attacks against us. Accordingly these sacrifices sustained in Afghanistan can be charged to bin Laden. I made an effort to account for those losses but found that they didn't materially change the balance in this ledger.
I also dealt with economic costs born by Americans as a result of the 9/11 attacks vis-a-vis the self-inflicted squandering of resources due to our invading and occupying Iraq. Further discussion of economic costs on my part would be redundant, given the recent authoritative work of Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economic professor at Columbia and Bilmes is at Harvard. They have co-authored a monograph with the self-explanatory title, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of The Iraq Conflict. Stiglitz and Bilmes say of Iraq that
It is George W. Bush who has put the biggest hurt on Americans by squandering our blood, our economic resources, our military assets, and our international esteem on this unnecessary, ruinous and endlesswar occupation in Iraq.
Indict and Prosecute!!!
I have been posting on this theme at least twice a year for years. And every year, doing the simple arithmetic paints an increasingly uglier picture.
Now that George Bush has had three quarters of a decade to drive America to I-wreck and I-ruin, the truth is incontrovertible: Bush's illegal, un-provoked, unnecessary, and largely unilateral invasion and unplanned occupation of Iraq has cost our nation more in blood and treasure than has Osama bin Laden.
Contrast the bloodshed caused by al Qaeda in America seven and a half years ago with the sacrifices of our troops in Iraq, beginning five years ago tonight.
OBL: Total Deaths - All 9/11 Attacks: 3,030
OBL: Total Injuries - All 9/11 Attacks: 2,337
GWB: Total US KIA in Iraq: 3,990
GWB: Total U.S. WIA in Iraq: 13,138
What I realized when I last posted on this theme on 11 September 2007, was that it can be argued - as I vehemently have argued - that a massive American retaliation against Afghanistan was not only justified by the 9-11 attacks, but was mandated. Thus, our costs sustained in Operation Enduring Freedom are expenses (in blood and treasure) which are directly attributable to the 9-11 attacks against us. Accordingly these sacrifices sustained in Afghanistan can be charged to bin Laden. I made an effort to account for those losses but found that they didn't materially change the balance in this ledger.
I also dealt with economic costs born by Americans as a result of the 9/11 attacks vis-a-vis the self-inflicted squandering of resources due to our invading and occupying Iraq. Further discussion of economic costs on my part would be redundant, given the recent authoritative work of Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economic professor at Columbia and Bilmes is at Harvard. They have co-authored a monograph with the self-explanatory title, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of The Iraq Conflict. Stiglitz and Bilmes say of Iraq that
I'm going to take their word for it. The evidence is conclusive and the jury's verdict is in.. . . the big picture is that, by our most conservative estimates, this war has cost an almost unimaginable $3 trillion. A more realistic estimate, however, is closer to $5 trillion once you include all the downstream "off budget costs" of long-term veteran benefits and treatment, the costs of restoring the now depleted military to its pre-war strength, the considerable costs of actually withdrawing from Iraq and repositioning forces elsewhere in the region.
It is George W. Bush who has put the biggest hurt on Americans by squandering our blood, our economic resources, our military assets, and our international esteem on this unnecessary, ruinous and endless
posted by Vigilante at 3/19/2008 09:32:00 PM
8 Moderated Comments:
They'll never name a carrier after George W. Bush. Probably not even a U.S. Destroyer, which would be more appropriate.
How right you are! And John McCain wants to continue the folly, the lie, the madness, for ever and ever, amen What a crazy old wounded warrior. Apparently it doesn't what war where, just so he gets to have his war fantasy--having missed out on it during what should have been his perfectly wonderful glorious war in Vietnam--wants to undo the prisoner of war and get to be the warrior.
Check out Stella's posts on Swiftspeech about the 5 year anniversary of the Iraq war. Really powerful
You should add to your list this whole Wall Street/Spitzer scam.
I think Osama bin Laden is evil and determined. George Bush is stupid and determined. An argument can be made that stupid is more dangerous as evidenced by the state of our nation. As to naming a carrier after the dumb one it just may happen. Years after the presidency of Harry S. Truman, generally regarded as stupid and "folksy" during his presidency, he came to be known as one of the greatest presidents ever. I find it hard to imagine that Dubya the Dumb will ever achieve "greatness" dead or alive, but I hope I am not around to see it...just in case.
News Flash! Obama's passport records at State Dept. have been breached three time over the past three months--two people quietly fired, one censured, Obama's Senate office notified today, by low level State official. Remember the investigation of just this sort of thing happening to Bill clinton when he was running against Pappy?
Off-topic, Savage!
Yes, madmike, but what's scary is Cheney is cunning, smart, determined, and evil. With all that money he made from Halliburton stocks and converting dollars into euros, he'll probably buy a destroyer himself and donated it to Blackwater.
Utah is not off target. One of the "biggest hurts" on America is the erosion of personal privacy. Going through Obama's passports is indicative that if they're going after him, they're going after everyone.
As Bill Maher said, "Where's Condi in all this?" Doing nothing, as usual...
McCain's premature victory lap around the world has uncovered one fact: some capitals might find a Republican preferable to a 3rd Bush term. They're just impatient for Bush to go:
At several stops along the trip, Mr. McCain struck a markedly different tone from that of President Bush. Mr. Bush is so unpopular, even with America's allies, that people in Britain and France told pollsters last spring that they had even less confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs than they had in President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
NYT
Post a Comment
<< Home