Home > The True Cost of War

The True Cost of War

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 1 November 2005
22 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA

This immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq has cost the world so much. George and his reckless war of choice have cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars that could be better spent at home. Judging from Katrina, Iraq has cost our country much of its security. It has cost the US any good standing we enjoyed in the world community. It cost America the post 9/11 good will from almost the entire world. We Americans are the laughing stock of the world community. Not only is our callous and careless leadership disdained, but we the people are scorned because we "re"-elected George for a 2nd term and not only that, we are allowing him to continue to mislead our country into ruin.

The price many of us are paying is so much costlier than the mere monetary expense or loss of reputation. Over 2000 American families have paid the price of our dear loved ones to the insanity. Over 15,000 of our young people are wounded with over 400 of those being amputees. The Veterans Administration estimates that over ¼ of our children will come home with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. I believe that number is higher, because I know of many cases where the military refuses to allow soldiers to seek treatment for PTSD. Many of them are sent back to battle if they even dare suggest they may be suffering from PTSD. Even if they are not wounded emotionally or physically, or killed, our soldiers will not come home entirely whole.

I was standing in front of the White House the other day when the indictments against Scooter were handed down. I was helping to hold a banner that said: Support our Troops: Bring Them Home Now.

When we received word of the indictments, many of us protestors outside the White House were cheering with happiness and relief. At last, someone could be held accountable for the lies that led our country into a disastrous invasion of Iraq. But I wasn’t cheering. I put down my end of the banner and sat down on the curb and cried.

Scooter is just a lap dog for Cheney. He and this administration don’t do anything unless the dirty deed is analyzed and planned for maximum damage to the offending party and minimum harm to Bush and Co. The criminals in power meant to hurt Joe Wilson and his family because Joe had the temerity and the audacity to call them liars: and to do it with such intelligence and alacrity was too much for the crooks to bear. If this crooked administration let Joe Wilson get away with telling the truth and calling them liars, then who would be next? Colin Powell? Judith Miller? The main stream media? (It could happen).

I cried because there are people in this world who have lied about smaller things and have been punished more harshly. I cried because there was a shill of the right near me holding a sign that read "Put Cindy in Abu Ghraib" when there are war criminals and immoral war profiteers running amok in our country. I cried because George, Dick, Condi, Colin, Alberto, Donald, Scooter, Paul, Karl, Judith, O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc., lied about the reasons for invading Iraq and because of their lies, my son, who rarely told anything but the truth, is dead.

The liars and lies that led the US to invade Iraq are legion and well documented. (Once, just for giggles, I put George Bush/Lies in a Google search and 272,000 references came up). The lies to maintain the occupation are the same. The liars are now starting to beat the war drum for invading Syria.

A mom whose son committed "accidental" suicide in Iraq about 7 months ago called me this morning. She is beside herself with grief. I remember that the 7th month to the 9th month is the hardest. I think this is true because the profound shock is starting to wear off and the horrendous pain sets in. I so vividly remember the days where I ached so badly I didn’t know what to do with my pain. I was afraid if I started screaming, I wouldn’t be able to stop until every blood vessel in my brain burst open. I was afraid if I started to hit something, I wouldn’t be able to stop until it was completely destroyed. I was afraid that I would have to live every single day with heartbreak so intense and overpowering that I would eventually wear myself out from it.

The ninth month after Casey was killed was the absolute most devastating for me. I remembered the first nine months of his existence in my womb all warm and protected. How his dad and I anticipated his birth with so much joy and expectation. In contrast, the first nine months he was in the cold, cold womb of our mother earth were so joyless, painful, dark and dismal. Having your child murdered for lies, mistakes, and betrayals is so dark and dismal: no one should have to endure what we are enduring.

I was able to reassure the mom in agony somewhat that if she could get through about two more months, she would be able to breathe a little and maybe smile a little and even mean it once in awhile.

We who have made the "ultimate sacrifice" know the true cost of war.

92 families found out in October, one of the bloodiest months of this war. Seven of our brave troops were killed today and their families will soon know how much pain the Bush administration’s lies will cause them and how much peace, sleep, and joy these same lies cost.

For everyone else, this is the true cost of war:

Moms and Dads having their hearts and souls violently ripped out. Overwhelming guilt is felt in relentless and pounding waves.

Husbands and wives sorrowfully and prematurely burying their life partners. Days and nights ahead filled with loneliness and pain.

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Forum posts

  • What I like to point out to anti-war protestors is that
    our sons are over there because bad people want to kill
    us. The bad people have been at war with us since at
    least when Marines on a PEACE mission died in Lebanon. We can choose to ignore the fact that bad people have declared war on us, but that will not change the fundamental fact that the bad guys want us dead.
    The protestors forget that even if we pulled out all our
    troops NOW, the bad people would STILL want us dead. The
    bad people would still want the war protestors themselves
    dead. Make no mistake, the bad people want Cindy Sheehan dead. Many brave soldiers, sailors, marines, wives and
    parents have sacrificed to free a nation from the bad
    people, and to keep us safe from the bad people. I think
    that a review of a document from our common history would
    be advisable for EVERYONE, especially the protestors.

    The Gettysburg Address

    Nov. 19, 1863
    Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on
    this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and
    dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
    equal.

    Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether
    that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated
    can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that
    war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final
    resting place for those who died here that the nation
    might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a
    larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we
    cannot hallow this ground. THE BRAVE MEN, LIVING AND DEAD
    WHO STRUGGLED HERE have hallowed it far above our poor
    power to add or detract. The world will little note nor
    long remember what we say here, but it can never forget
    what THEY did here.

    IT IS RATHER FOR US THE LIVING, WE HERE BE DEDICATED TO THE GREAT TASK BEFORE US— the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSE for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—THAT WE HERE RESOLVE that these dead SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by
    the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
    ================================================
    "Shall not have died in vain..." How quick we are to forget our history. Over 3000 US Army soldiers were killed in 3 days at Gettysburg (this does NOT include Confederate dead). How did the country respond after Lincoln’s address??? Did we cut and run because the effort became too great to bear? No, the US responded with a re-dedication and increased devotion to the cause. What would our country look like if today’s anti-war protestors had lived and prevailed at the time of "Lincoln’s War"???

    On a single day, June 6th, 1944, the US lost 1465 hero’s who died on the beaches of Normandy to free a foreign people from a ruthless dictator. This does not include British, Canadian and other allied dead. Would our friends who want to leave Iraq have advocated leaving Hitler in place???? What would the world look like if today’s anti-war protestors had lived and prevailed at the time of "Roosevelt’s War"???

    2398 Americans died in a single day at Pearl Harbor. Would today’s anti-war protestors have made the arguement that Hitler did not attack us and that Japan should be pursued in court rather than engage in a war???

    I do not intend to glorify war. It is ugly and evil. But sometimes it is just and necessary. I believe that this war falls into this category and that our marines and sailors are engaged in a noble and just effort. Our anti-war friends, God bless them, are exercising Constitutional rights to free speech, but in the process they harm the morale of the men and families and try to
    destroy our will to win. They would have our honored dead lost in vain. They aid the bad people and could arguably be counted as allies to terrorists. Destroying the morale of the troops and their families is not "supporting the troops" any more than Tokyo Rose or Berlin Betty - it is giving aid and comfort to the bad guys.

    May God protect our heros, and strengthen us in our
    courage and resolve, that we perservere in establishing a
    just peace, that they shall not have died in vain.

    Ubipetros

    • Hey, you need to turn off the TV set and grow a brain. I could try to explain in detail why this government is wrong but you are too stupid to understand any of it. What a shame I guess as long as we have Americans like this Bush can continue the propaganda from the lying news media.

    • Ubipetros, you are putting us on - right? Please say yes. I shudder to think that you are sincere. "Bad people"? What a world to live in! "Good people." Right/left, up/down, black/white, etc. Jeeesus, please be a put on.

    • Well ok, educate me. What do YOU call someone who would hijack an airplane and fly it into a building of innocent people? OR put to film the act of killing an innocent journalist by sawing his head off with a machete? I know - good, bad it’s all relative - you say potato and all that...RIGHT. And I’m curious, black and white being how I see things of course - how many shades of gray are there in looking at a leader who’s into gassing and genocide of his own countrymen???

      Oh, and by the way your Jeeeesus remark. You realize that the clarions of virtue you champion would put you on the same list as Salmon Rushdie if you took the name of Allah in vain. I wonder if Rushdie finds moral equivalance in their desire to seek him out and murder him?

      I’m real. You guys are the ones that are unbelievable.

    • You poor soul. You are just one of those sheep who don’t see what’s happening in the world. As they say: what goes around comes around. And the US had better stop messing with other peoples and countries. How come only the US has those "enemies that want to destroy us"? As long as the criminals in the white house can manipulate people like you into believing that we have to be the policeman of the world, and mess with others, this will go on. This bullshit will never stop unless ignorant souls like you wake up. Many Germans believed that Hitler was good for Germany, too. They woke up too late. When will you?

    • In a sense they woke up...when the tanks of the allies surrounded Berlin. Are you really assigning moral equivalency to our country and our fighting men to Hitler and his troops? You should be quite ashamed of yourself. Please don’t tell me you also do the "I support the troops BUTTTTT..." thing.

      Do you really believe that the US is the only peoples belonging to the only state terrorized by radical Islam? You sir are the one naive and blind to world events and world history. Let’s start with an easy one. Explain to the "Cindy Sheehan’s" who lost their USMC sons in the terror attack in Lebanon. We were there to keep a tentative peace, AT THE REQUEST OF THE LEBANESE government and they murdered our boys. Next you want to talk about the Sudanese? How about the Kurds in Northern Iraq? Last time I counted we had only 50 stars on Old Glory and Northern Iraq isn’t one of them.

      Even if we adopt a policy of radical isolationism we will be hated as long as we are affluent and Christian. Or if we are affluent and secular. Or if we are affluent and ...well anything other than Islamic. Oh yea, and my friends who are Muslim will be hated too - because they do not profess the "right kind" of Islam. No my Muslim friends adhere to a peace loving Islam, the kind that professes peace, and does not want to kill all infidels. So sadly, they will be hated too.

      Grow up, look around the world, read history and stop letting your hatred of America and all she does cloud your vision. (Or is it just a hatred of Bush???)

      – Ubipetros

    • Ubipetros,
      You are the perfect American. Brainwashed to believe exactly what Bush and Co. want you to believe. And on top of that.... a Christian? God help America!

      Yes, I do compare Bush with Hitler.

    • Well, Ubi old boy, let me ask you a question. What do you call five of the alleged hijackers who turned up alive? Stuck for a response? Let me help you out with a suggestion. How about calling the "official" 911 story FISHY, at best.

    • then you sir are the brainwashed fool.

    • Five? Ok - Elvis, JFK...sorry I’m stuck at 2 out of 5.

  • Let’s please respect the first responder Ubipetros. He is in his way respectful towards Cindy. Cindy just does not see that there are so many dangerous people who want us dead and there aren’t. I think she feels that most people can be trusted and that hating and fearing will only make things worth. It would have been hard had Cindy lost her son in a just war, but not so utterly unbearable.

    Cindy, you turned yourself into a soldier in a war on something sinister that is holding this country in its grip. You yourself are fighting the just war that your son was willing to fight. Please find comfort and strength in that. Your son gave his live so that you are our soldier.

    • Kindly ask Cindy to explain that to the mothers whose marines died on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon AT THE REQUEST of the Lebanese government. With all due respect I think you are in error to think that wishing this away will solve the terrorism. And while you call for respectful dialogue is appreciated, I’m afraid you will learn that the most vocal of those who share your opinions here know little or nothing of respect or civilized debate. It shouldn’t take long for you to see the true nature of the types you are associating yourself with. But thanks for the idealism though. It’s refreshing.

    • Just because more young people are getting killed in Iraq doesn’t justify the war any more than it did before they were killed. The strategy of that unprovoked invasion has not done one thing to protect the USA. The real war is being fought in the shadows. But KBR can’t make billions from that kind of war. So we are in Iraq for them, hope that makes you feel better. So don’t try to act like the unprovoked invasion of Iraq is for the good of the people or America. It’s piss poor strategy and more dead doesn’t make it a good one.....Bush should be locked up in a mad house, so what does that say about you? Make war right or not at all.

    • Hey dipshit, get a clue....you are out numbered and out smarted here....go troll your pathetic shit at GoArmy.gov, or GOP.org....you need to stay among your own kind we don’t need another dumbass here, and you certainly are not going to change any minds, we are all able to see quite well what is going on at Bu$hco. Even though your life is so empty and you need attention, maybe you should go join the army, then you could do something besides be a full of shit phony like your God Georgie.

    • I agree with you that war should be fought correctly or not at all. In fact, I’m no fan of GHWB - I thought at the time of the Gulf War we quit exactly 48 hours too soon. And now we are paying the price for a previous war not finished correctly.

      As for the war being good for the American people, I think that the successes and progress to future success in making Iraq self-dependent and democratic are in the best interests of not only the US, but the world. Let me make one point.

      On 10/31 the Washington Post did an article on an operation in Sayafiah (south of Baghdad) by US and elite Iraqi police force troops - led by the Iraqis. According to the WP, Col. Ali Abu Al Hassan, commander of the elite Iraqi Wolf Brigade said that raids against a terrorist hideout led to the arrest of 40 gunmen in the first hours and the seizure of two car bombs- one disguised in a garbage truck.

      It appears that less than a week after the Palestinian Hotel terrorist attack accomplises, if not the terrorists themselves were found and brought to justice. If so, this means that bad people who sought to slaughter journalists and other non-combatants were found, killed or captured in less than a week. In the past, terrorist attacks went for years before any were captured and brought to justice. Our boys in the military and their Iraqi counterparts are doing a good job of finding and killing the experienced leadership of the enemy. This means that experienced, trained terrorists are being brought in from other countries - and their life expectancy is proving to be VERY short. I believe that we are keeping the terrorists pinned down in Iraq making it difficult to operate elsewhere. So yes, I believe we are safer because of this war.

      I will however join in the chorus of criticism of the President for failing to secure the borders. This is the source of our greatest vulnerability. I don’t think it is an impeachable neglect (yet) but I think this is the tree that the "Impeach Bush" dogs should be barking up.

    • American enterprise think-tank, are a bunch of chicken hawks (mostly Jews by the way). By being in Iraq we are creating the very terrorist that we are fighting in Iraq and then some. The shadow warriors don’t use regular Army type troops to fight. Regular troops are just targets for the terrorist to blow up from the shadows. You are right Regular troops should be at the borders of America protecting us. Not used in Iraq as needless targets for shadow warriors to strike at will at. KBR are the only types to benefit from the war in Iraq. We’re less safe now because of the attack in Iraq, not more safe. You must have stock in KBR?.....

    • I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean when you say "shadow warriors" or "KBR". If we are increasing the recruiting of entry-level terrorists is certainly up for debate, but we are killing off the middle and upper management types with the knowledge, expertise and leadership skills. The knowledge gained through battle is being attrited and not passed down to new recruits. Proof is in the shifting of Al Qaida leaders from other countries. The entry level folks will soon give up when they see their leaders and teachers killed soon after taking the post. And the situation will only improve as the Iraqi’s themselves take more and more operational responsibility. Intelligence gathering is already much improved and the common people are coming forward to rat out the foreign terrorists as they see that the coalition is in this for the long haul. Even Hillary Clinton (all bow heads reverently) professes that we must not withdraw immediately.

      Please educate me on the shadow warrior thing and let me know what the KBR acronym is.

    • KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton. Shadow warriors are spooks, spies,covert warriors.. Don’t play dumb. The Bush administration’s war in Iraq is to redesigning the Middle East, but it hasn’t turned out exactly as planned.Osama is sitting in his cave, thanking Allah for President George W. Bush.For what has been a recruiter’s dream for them.The destruction of the Iraqi state has opened the door to a broader collapse of the state system in that region.Who do you think are more organized the radicals(Osama) or the peaceful peoples of that region.So it’s back firing.But it sure is taking the heat off of Isreal.This is no way to fight an covert war at all is it?The Bush administration’s motto is "Lies R US" will matter politically only when people like you start to understand what is really going on.....
      Dj

    • Ah yes, Halliburton...epitome of all that is evil.

      As to the shadow warriors, your previous statement was unclear as to whether you referred to coalition or terrorists with the way you phrased it (or I inferred). I can’t rule out covert operations since I’m not on their e-mail cc list, and if someone like me knew about them they certainly wouldn’t be very adept at the whole "covert" thing. I do know the USMC is tracking and killing a lot of middle management terrorists. My son is a Navy corpsmen (medic) and I met most of the guys in the sniper platoon, and mobile assault platoons. I’m in touch with many of the wives and mothers in my son’s company and I hear word of the good work they are doing. I would not want to be one of the insurgents with the USMC in the neighborhood. And the populace are coming onboard in increasing numbers.

      I see that we have a fundamentally different way of looking at this. I see the Iraqi state being born, not having been destroyed. I do not mourn the destruction of the former Iraqi regime. I also see that the bad guys are getting less and less organized and it is getting harder and harder to operate. I think that there will be a collapse of state systems in teh area, as peoples see the freedom of the Iraqi people and realize that freedom is man’s true destiny. I see progress.

      And that is the essence of my original post. This is not an easy war, but neither was teh US Civil War, or the WWII. There will be setbacks, and losses, but in the end there will be a democracy in Iraq.

      By the way, although you are obviously passionate in your beliefs, you listen to my opinions and disagree with respect. This is not my experience of liberals or anti-Bush/anti-war folks in general. Your intelligent discouse is restoring my faith in the ability of liberals to discuss different opinions. Kudos.

    • Don’t think that I don’t support the fine young people doing the fighting there. My way of supporting them is to try to get them home. I think that the strategy is all wrong. Israel tried to do the same thing in Lebanon. Look where it got them. The domino theory is a bunch of bs. But that’s what we’re getting from Bush,(not that he could think up anything on his own) we knock over Iraq and the rest will fall in place. Doesn’t that sound like another theory from the 60’s? Only this time the draft dodgers are running the show (so it makes it better). Let the spooks aka CIA/SEALS/ SFers ie unconventional warriors and law enforcement take care of the terrorist. This is not a conventional war that can be fought with regular troops (it shouldn’t have been anyway).W’s open border policy for the supression of wages is more important than our safety? All they really care about is money. Your son and many other peoples sons need to be here at home on our borders.We never learn from the past.
      Dj

    • I’m sorry, but as I stated in my original post - I think that bringing home troops before the job is done only results in emptying the sacrifice of the brave of its merit - it means they will have died in vain. I don’t think that calling for the troops to come home is support of the troops. HOWEVER, I do think that a true patriot can propose a better strategy and enter into the arena of ideas to challenge the present policy. This seems to be what you do. On the other hand, idiots and ideologues here oppose the war in a way that is absolutely treasonous. One above assigns moral equivalency to my son and our troops in Iraq with Hitler and the Nazi’s. To call a marine a Nazi does nothing but aid the cause of teh enemy and works to destroy the morale of the troops and their families. This I oppose with passion.

      Domino theory - I think it will work. Only because I believe that part of the natural law is a pre-disposition for individual freedom and dignity. If Iraqi’s vote then soon revolutions will occur in Saudi and Iranian peoples. Lood at what the visit of the Pope did in Poland. Freedom cannot be suppressed.

      I agree with you on the value of SF and covert opns. I do not think that they alone can meet our goals. The Steel Curtain offensive now underway will go a long way to further an independent Iraq by showing teh growing competence of the Iraqi army. Sunni tribes are no longer a block but have been split into those wanting to participate in a free iraqi democracy and fight foreign interlopers, and those who want to ally with any enemy to kill coalition forces.

      I think real progress is being made and that with perserverence we will succeed. However, Bush lacks communications skills and the media is bombarding the public with exclusively negative news from the war front. So, I think that we are close to the MSM and anti-Bush, anti-war folks to hand the terrorists their victory by killing the people’s will to fight. It would be a shame...I think we are closer to victory than most imagine.

    • "those who oppose this war are absolutely treasonous"....taking our country to war based on lies in order to make profits with your cronies is what is absolutely treasonous......what is wrong with you that you can’t see that???