The US flag, Iraq flag, and the US Forces Iraq colors are seen before they are carried in during ceremonies marking the end of US military mission in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011.
The war is over...finally!
After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials yesterday formally shut down the war in Iraq -- a conflict that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the price in blood and money, as it set Iraq on a path to democracy.
Whether it was a success or a failure will be debated for years, if not decades. But one thing's certain, according to filmmaker and activist Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe, Political Director at Brave New Foundation -- the Iraq War was a giant success for war profiteers who made out like bandits while the rest of us were stuck with a multi-trillion dollar bill.
In their excellent article on Huff Post, Greenwald and Crowe call out Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a former Haliburton subsidiary, which racked up 22 instances of misconduct, including sexual assault and retaliation and wrongful death.
Despite that dismal record, KBR's CEO William P. Utt made $9.6 million in salary and other compensation last year, putting him squarely in the richest 0.01 percent of Americans.
Something to consider the next time we debate whether to go to war.
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WELCOME HOME......enjoy and know you are loved. Thank you for your service.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/iraq
Send them a greeting...and enjoy.
Thanks for that link, Mom.
where did those black water fools take their crew, I hear iraq threw them out?
They are protecting american embassies around the world. How does that make you feel?? All those years the repugs talked about running govt like a business, never once did they tell us, that it was perfectly okay to keep on giving contracts to companies that cheat us, over bill us and perform inferior work. Is this the free market? I don't think so. American taxpayers are Murdog fools and Kochroach suckers. Business and govt do not mix, they are oil and water. The common good is not the same as what is good for business. Capitalism with a conscience as proposed by Adam Smith, is not the run amok, chaotic free wheeling, free dealing system that the TPARTY NATIONalists SUPPORT.
Easy12, they were not thrown out, they just came back unjder a new name.
BLACK WATER:http://www.commondreames.org/headline/2011/12/12-5
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/215338.html
Vietnam Veteran Against War here, this @!$%# needs to stop...
Post one is not working mom but you can find it, if you put it in search.
I would like to wish
ITS Scewed up!!!!! DAM BLOG!
Hey, xxx,
What no new Avatar for the evening. T-800 gave me this one.....this size you can't tell that Obama has his laser sword. When they are putting up new sights anything can happen to your post.
Due NOW!
Too Good! The moronic billionaire! Thank you gw.
Not a "laser sword" Mom. It's a lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi Knight.
I don't know anything about Jedi Knights and lightsabers. Just politics and trolls. I'm earth bound. Never been to the future, or outerspace. I just learned about TRANSFORMers from my Grandson this summer. Have you seen barney yet?
No problem Mom. Just pick'n on ya. LOL! Cool avatar, glad ya like it.
Just admitting I'm not perfect.....again....Damn!
I would like to wish the people of Iraq well in their new found democracy. The torch has been passed,. I hope they will use truth and understanding to light their way for all time. And tempered with what has been wrought by the lives of so many. Peace and forgiveness as they and we move into the future!
Its been estimated that it could be around 1000000 Iraqis have lost there lives in this............war! US losses including 911 50000. Did they win? Did we at a cost of $80 billion dollars? And to kill one man Osama bin Laden the WMDs where never there and never were! No I take that back there were Cheney brought them!
Can the money made by the PERPETRATOR OF THE US, GW AND HIS PARTERNER MADE be estimated?
#6.1
Makes me sick just to think about it! Well hid, Obama may find... Oh my the evil! Its unconscionably!
T.MOM I saw your Avatar yesterday and couldn't make out the lightsabre.
Oh help us OBAMA WON!.....your our best hope!
My mom gone now. Hated GWB and said he was as dumb as a post! I think she would have liked Barrack Obama!
gw os as dumb as a post. That is what my mother would have said if she had know him.
xxx ooo, may I ask where you got your casualty numbers from Iraq, and if there are any more statistics attached to them? Such as how many of them were killed while trying to kill U.S. or Coalition service members or how many were killed by insurgent IED's of some sort?
Having spent a few years in Iraq as both a soldier and a civilian, these numbers don't seem very realistic to me, but I'm willing to check the sources you provide and all.
I can't wait to have some cookies......OH MY.....those darn crumbs.
paul,
what difference does it make if iraqi's died while trying to kill a U.S soldier or coalition service members, or if they died by insurgent IED's of some sort? even though thousands died by guns or bombs, does it matter that thousands of iraqi's died because of worsening health problems and environmental conditions that were in direct relation to the war?
all of these are a direct result of our invasion in march of 2003 of iraq.
when W. bush said that 600,00 was not "credible", i assumed he was lying. he was trying to keep a "positive" attitude toward a war that was losing its popularity, and felt more comfortable with a much lower number; 30,000. he lied to take us in there, why wouldn't he lie about everything else in regard to the war? in fact, our troops just got out of there, when bush declared victory years ago.
if you are so interested in how iraqi's died, do some research, lots of stuff online.
The candidates can't wait to get into a war with Iran so they can make even MORE money! If that happens it will be WWIII and I think we know what that will usher in. The beginning of the end. So the Dems HAVE to win!
Considering the circumstances(1000's of people, many hired on spur of the moment working in a combat zone and lacking any military experience, some for several years), I'd say that's not a terrible record. Not that I'm attempting to justify, merely putting it all in a more realistic perspective.
The war was just another taxpayer's money grab that was and still is the hallmark of republican leadership. The only winner was Halburton and Blackwater who stole and cheated the taxpayers out of countless billions. When will the electorate ever learn.
The Iraq war started in 2003 was easily 10 years overdue, Bill Clinton SHOULD have taken care of it back in the early to mid 90's, not long after the first time. I say this as a soldier who was in the first war, and would have been in the second had we gone back in as I suggest. Allowing the problem to fester, caches made etc. for so many years did us no favors and caused the war to be prolonged this time.
It's easy to sit there and echo the propaganda of the past decade, regardless of it's origin, while being uninformed about the reality of the situation as a whole. However, that does not make any or all of it inherently correct.
The electorate, by in large, seems to be listening to the first POTUS in history to deny responsibility and/or ownership of any of the events that are not hugely popular during his tenure, while supporting him rabidly. This is not leadership, this is an absence of leadership.
We should have learned our lesson in Nam, where we did not belong.
Going into Iraq was stuipid. Bush could have gone in and gotten Sadam, just like OBAMA TOOK OUT OBL.
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T-Mom, if you'll recall we went into Vietnam in large part due to the fight against Communism at the time. We invaded Iraq in 1990/91 in response to their invasion of Kuwait, defeated them (not soundly enough, due to International pressure) and Saddam never lived up to the tenets of the treaty he signed. Had Bill Clinton had the stones to force the issue in 1993, we would not have waited until 2003 to RE-invade and the war wouldn't have been nearly as challenging.
Sitting on your laurels and constantly blaming G.W.B. for all the ills of the world may work with the support of the global smear campaign, but it falls far short of actually analyzing the situation as a whole. Additionally, Obama did not "take out" OBL, that distinction belongs to SEAL team 6, Obama merely sat in his comfy chair and said OK.
You seem to be confused Paulie. Which president was commander in chief during desert storm? Why did he not listen to Gen Swartskoff and take out Saddam Hussien in the first war? I guess he wanted to save the next one for Junior.
You seem to be failing to read Johnnie. Try reading the part where I stated we didn't defeat Saddam soundly enough due to International pressure. Yes, G.H.W.B. caved to this from the Coalition, many times throughout history the military's assertions are disregarded and political solutions are reached, more often than not the military ends up paying the price when it turns out to be a bad decision. Time will tell if it was the right thing for us to withdraw from Iraq now, and from Afghanistan in another three years.
I was refering to your 9.1 post where you blame Clinton for not doing enough. Not suprizing coming from a teabag supporter, blaming everyone but the party YOU support for failed policies such as the illegal Iraq war. By the way, was it SEAL team 6 (and god bless them) that made the descision to go in with troops and not just drop bombs to make sure once and for all without a doubt that OBL was served justice, not to mention all the intellegence that could be recovered? It took courage to make a descision like that. But thats what a real leader has. A trait bush and cheney have never posessed.
By the way, thank you for your service.
John, if you had a good bit of leadership experience yourself, you would likely realize the phrase "let the situation dictate" is omnipresent in decision making. If you think your hero B.O. made his decision without urging and and advice from others, I guarantee you're wrong. This is what every President has to do, regardless of party affiliation, the less they do so, the more then tend to fail.
As for your "teabag" comments, which is an ignorant referral to the Tea Party, I have no doubt. Do I support the reformation of the tax code due to it's being overly complex and penalizing anyone for working hard and becoming financially successful.....YES. If you choose to hold that in disdain somehow, so be it, you are welcome to donate more than the current tax code mandates of you, I prefer to keep my hard earned money.
No, you teabaggers just refuse to acknowledge the fact that the president made a couragous descision and yes, he did have advisors but the decision was his and his alone just like it was bush's descision to quit looking for OBL a year after 9-11. And as for being called 'teabagger's' you named yourselves first, then figured out what it meant. As for the tax code, cry me a river about 'penalizing' those who work hard. Just read an article that the top 30 companies paid NO taxes whatsoever and in fact recieved millions in rebates. You teabaggers arguments are a fairy tale, period.
John, once again you fail to pay attention and quote corporate tax issues, which are a problem created by the overly complex tax codes and both sides of the aisle in Congress. But you zagnuts think that is somehow the fault of the Tea Party due to the BS propaganda you're fed. Try ending your cranial/anal loopback and actually go to the Tea Party website for once and see just how much you really disagree with it's core, unless you prefer your propaganda.
As for Bush stopping the hunt for OBL, I never said I thought that was a great idea, but I don't know the whole story behind it, neither do you. However, you don't know the whole story behind his elimination either, but you and so many others simply credit B.O. with it.
The tax codes benefits who Paulie? You?, me? or the biggest corporations. Better do some research on that. By the way, which party signed a pledge to never raise taxes? I guess that was meant only for the top 2% seeing how they want to raise it on the middle class. Maybe you should get your head out of Glenn Becks 'anal' region and find out what your 'bagger party is trying to do. And the whole story was bush was at a press conference and stated he was not concerned about OBL and did not know where he was. And I know the POTUS made a couragous descision to finish Bush's job.
Well Johnnie, once again your spout your ignorance and spew your party's propaganda. Apparently that's all you ever do, you've been programmed/brainwashed very well it would seem.
Paulie's translation- I got nuth'in.
paul,
i know a member of the seal six team that took binladen out. he and the seals deserve credit, but he gives President Obama his share of the credit, and he deserves it.
you love to accuse us of being ignorant and of spewing our party's propaganda. you are doing the same thing.
you have also been brainwashed and programmed very well it would seem.
i am sure it is difficult for you all that W. bush didn't take out bin laden. like hannity and others on fox news, you are giving President Obama the least possible credit, if that. after President Obama took office he ramped up the search for bin laden to kill him as he promised during his presidential campaign. but as we heard W. bush say, he was "not that worried about where bin laden was". on the other hand, he was more concerned about saddam hussein, who threatened to kill his daddy. if he would have been as concerned about bin laden as he was about saddam, W. could have taken credit for bin laden, because he would have killed him, too. but the bush family has ties to the binladens because of business.
W. bush was not that interested in getting bin laden, he wanted to go into iraq instead and hunt down saddam hussein.
President Obama was very focused in the hunt for and the killing of bin laden, a campaign promise that he kept because he didn't have republicans standing in the way by filibustering and obstructionism.
Ever see the documentary called "Iraq for Sale"? I hope we can get out of the Middle East soon.