Just because we are being told the war is over doesn't mean the US is not still involved in Iraq. The troops may be home or sent on another tour, but money is still being spent in Iraq. I don't see an end anytime soon.
February 1, 2012 U.S. soldiers are leaving Iraq, but as many as 18,000 contractors are staying behind to run and protect the Green Zone, the world's largest embassy complex. The contractors are being overseen by the State Department, which does not have a good history of contract oversight. POGO Investigator Jake Wiens lays out some of POGO's worries in the video above, and POGO Senior Writer Beth Schulman's op-ed on Other Words delves into the possibility of coming problems with contractors in Iraq.
AND: At least $31 billion, and possibly as much as $60 billion, has been lost to contract waste and fraud in America's contingency operations......
The drones are the latest example of the State Department's efforts to take over functions in Iraq that the military used to perform. About 5000 private security contractors now protect the embassy's 11,000 staff members.
When embassy personnel move around the country, small helicopters buzz over their convoys to provide support in case of an attack. Often, two contractors armed with machineguns are tethered to the outside of the helicopters.
Continued at link....
Beliefnet Community Moderator ~ Peace Love Stardove
It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace, and live in peace. -Shenandoah proverb
The USA"s defense budget does not include the welfare grants to corporations to develop and create and profit from weapons the military buys; neither does it include the $$$$$ necessary to care for the wounded, shocked and disabled its wars have created; nor the re-education of soldiers it exploited; nor the costs of inflation upon the population due to its energy-wasting wars; nor the continual propaganda advertising the military to unsuspecting youth; nor the costs to families and communities to deal with soul-ravaged returned soldiers; nor the weaponry "given" to nations around the world to keep their puppet-governments in control of their people and to create threats to neighboring nations; nor the costs of borrowing the money from banks to pursue the unnecessary wars; etc.
...The Iraq war is only over for the neo-nuts who went in saying that 3 days and $3 billion would straighten things out and now want to forget their "mistake" by any means possible...
The war is OVER, johndavid23. OVER. We will live with the consequences of this war, but it is STILL over.
Yet, the soldiers camp out now in Kuwait and pretend that the war is over: what are they waiting/staying for? Yes, more war. Just take a breather every ten years and continue the slaughter of innocent civilians. After all, those warprofiteers are not about to give up their excessive profits just because they've sucked the economy dry.
Do you have anything other than your personal opinion to back up any of what you are sayiong here?
Look at how many troops are in Kuwait. 20,000 - mostly support troops. The US is asking to add an addition 3,500 combat troops, but that is by no means finalized. Bottom line. There are nowhere near enough troops to go back to fighting again.
As far as the "warprofieers sucking the economy dry," perhaps you need to provide a link to support that. The TOTAL Defense budget is 4.7% of the total FY 2012 Budget. It seems it is DOMESTIC ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS sucking the economy dry and not the Defense budget.
In short, your statements do not reflect reality. Helps to have your ducks in a row before making duch dire statements.
The Iraq war is only over for the neo-nuts who went in saying that 3 days and $3 billion would straighten things out and now want to forget their "mistake" by any means possible.. For everyone else, for the rest of the world, the Iraq war continues, whether at home as soldiers commit suicide of kill their families and communities, as the economy stagnates due to the $trillion (s) wasted in Iraq; or in Iraq as car bombers continue their war, as millions of refugees wait homeless, as crippled children find more cluster bombs and lose more limbs, as toxic chemicals and radiation mutate babies born in certain bomb spots.
Yet, the soldiers camp out now in Kuwait and pretend that the war is over: what are they waiting/staying for? Yes, more war. Just take a breather every ten years and continue the slaughter of innocent civilians. After all, those warprofiteers are not about to give up their excessive profits just because they've sucked the economy dry.
Because the war in Iraq is over...actually has been for quite a while...this thread is no longer a 'sticky', but a regular thread that will continue to prosper, or fade away as members may decide.
Rangerken, co-host
Conservative, Libertarian, Life member of the NRA and VFW
This may be my last post on this thread, ”the Iraq War”. The American involvement in the 2003- 2011 Iraq war is finished. The US military LEFT Iraq in an orderly road march to Kuwait and not under fire. Some Iraqis waved goodbye. Yes there were civilian casualties, probably almost as many as Saddam and sons would have raped, tortured and murdered if left in power
Yes, considering the US military regieme in Iraq the equivalent in terror and oppression as Saddam's regieme seems accurate. But, what does that prove, that human beings can descend to the level of hatred of those they make war against? Don't we ever learn from that? Thus, no war is ever honorable or just, as we always know that an equal portion of suffering and misery will result from war as doing nothing. Better to focus on creative activities rather than destruction. Agents of destruction are all alike.
This may be my last post on this thread, ”the Iraq War”. The American involvement in the 2003- 2011 Iraq war is finished. The US military LEFT Iraq in an orderly road march to Kuwait and not under fire. Some Iraqis waved goodbye. Yes there were civilian casualties, probably almost as many as Saddam and sons would have raped, tortured and murdered if left in power
“I[seldom]make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.” Edward Gibbon
The military Talk about counter-productive insecurity. We'd be better off without a US military sucking the economy dry. It is just a corporate welfare scam. seems to train killers and then let them loose in the general population.
Interesting how a lot of military technology makes its way into the civilian market and boosts our economy and ability to compete in the World market.
***maybe that explains why the US economy is tanked, since it is built on destruction (war) rather than production/positive-creativity.***jd23
There is SOME validity in this particular statement, as there are a preponderance of military engineers and technicians who get into aerospace after leaving the service.
Of course, a lot of military types work for outfits like Sony, Verizon, Ford, John Deere, while others go into strictly "military ventures like, Education, Health Care, Public Service, or the like.
In short, your misreprsentation merely prove that you have a prejudice against the military and nothing more.
The military Talk about counter-productive insecurity. We'd be better off without a US military sucking the economy dry. It is just a corporate welfare scam. seems to train killers and then let them loose in the general population.
Interesting how a lot of military technology makes its way into the civilian market and boosts our economy and ability to compete in the World market.
***maybe that explains why the US economy is tanked, since it is built on destruction (war) rather than production/positive-creativity.***jd23
And the military seems to be able to field superbly trained technicians who work in the civilian community with that new marketable technology.
***no examples, perhaps because that warprofiteer propaganda is pure lies. The "civilian population" doesn't need more snipers.***jd23
