- Nearly $2 billion a week paid by U.S. taxpayers
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- Half a trillion dollars since 2001 for Iraq and Afghanistan
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- 2,709 American troops killed
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- 18,000 Iraqis in U.S.-run prisons (per Sen. John Warner,
floor, U.S. Senate, Sept. 27, 2006)
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- 6,599 Iraqis killed in July and August 2006 alone
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- 44,000 Iraqis (est.) killed since 2003
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- 250,000 Iraqis have fled in the last seven months
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- The "heralded" Iraq police academy -- costing
$75 million -- is a "disaster"; feces and urine "rained
from the ceilings in student barracks"
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- Al Qaeda gains recruits from Iraq war - U.N. study
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- Saudi Arabia building a $500-million, 540-mile fence
across Iraqi border (part of $12 billion security package)
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- The Lincoln Group has been awarded a two-year $12.4 million
contract to monitor news organizations' coverage of the war in Iraq, including
CNN, correspondent Barbara Starr told Lou Dobbs
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- Republicans repeatedly "vote no" to increase
veterans funding; HUD denies contract to firm "critical of President
Bush"
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- From Cost of Iraq war nearly $2b a week, Boston Globe,
Sept. 28, 2006:
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-
-
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- A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now
costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week -- nearly twice as much as in
the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than
last year -- as the Pentagon spends more on establishing regional bases
to support the extended deployment and scrambles to fix or replace equipment
damaged in combat.
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- The upsurge occurs as the total cost of military operations
at home and abroad since 2001, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
will top half a trillion dollars, according to an internal assessment by
the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service completed last week. [...]
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- [A] major factor in the growth of war spending is the
result of a dramatic rise in ``investment costs," or spending needed
to sustain a long-term deployment of American troops in the two countries,
the report said. These include the additional purchases of protective equipment
for troops, such as armored Humvees, radios, and night-vision equipment;
new tanks and other equipment to replace battered gear from Army and Marine
Corps units that have been deployed numerous times in recent years; and
growing repair bills for damaged equipment, what the military calls ``reset"
costs.
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- At least one lawmaker, referring to reports of equipment
shortages in the war zones and at US bases where troops are training for
combat, says some of the spending is misplaced. ``While we are spending
billions in Iraq to build and maintain massive bases, we cannot [effectively]
repair our abused equipment or replace it," US Representative Martin
T. Meehan , a Lowell Democrat and member of the House Armed Services Committee,
said in a statement. [...]
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- ... [U]nder the category of "procurement,"
the funds designated for "resetting the force" -- replacing or
repairing equipment damaged in combat and preparing for long-term fighting
-- has jumped from $7.2 billion in 2004 to $20.9 billion in 2005, and $22.9
billion this year. Separately, the Army has told Congress that it estimates
it will need at least $36 billion more for equipment, while the Marine
Corps has reported it needs nearly $12 billion. [...]
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- ``You would expect [operating costs] to level off if
you have the same level of people," said the report's principal author,
Amy Belasco, a national defense specialist at the Congressional Research
Service. ``You shouldn't have as much cost to fix buildings that were presumably
repaired when you got there. It's a bit mysterious."From Al Qaeda
gains recruits from Iraq war - U.N. study:
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- The report by terrorism experts working for the U.N.
Security Council said al Qaeda was playing a central role in the fighting
in Iraq as well as inspiring a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, several
hundred miles (km) away.
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- "New explosive devices are now used in Afghanistan
within a month of their first appearing in Iraq," said the report.
"And while the Taliban have not been found fighting outside Afghanistan/Pakistan,
there have been reports of them training in both Iraq and Somalia."
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- Al Qaeda, it said, "has gained by continuing to
play a central role in the fighting (in Iraq) and in encouraging the growth
of sectarian violence, and Iraq has provided many recruits and an excellent
training ground," it said.From "Heralded Iraq Police Academy
a 'Disaster'," Washington Post, Sept. 27, 2006, via Daily Kos diary,
"Shit hitting fan in Iraq - literally":
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- A $75 million project to build the largest police academy
in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health
risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, federal investigators
have found.
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- The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S.
efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was
so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in
student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart.
Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain
forest."
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- "This is the most essential civil security project
in the country -- and it's a failure," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the
special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office
created by Congress. "The Baghdad police academy is a disaster."
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- Bowen's office plans to release a 21-page report Thursday
detailing the most alarming problems with the facility.
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- Even in a $21 billion reconstruction effort that has
been marred by cases of corruption and fraud, failures in training and
housing Iraq's security forces are particularly significant because of
their effect on what the U.S. military has called its primary mission here:
to prepare Iraqi police and soldiers so that Americans can depart. [...]
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- Inside the inspector general's office in Baghdad on a
recent blistering afternoon, several federal investigators expressed amazement
that such construction blunders could be concentrated in one project. Even
in Iraq, they said, failure on this magnitude is unusual. When asked how
the problems at the police college compared with other projects they had
inspected, the answers came swiftly.
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- "This is significant," said Jon E. Novak, a
senior adviser in the office.
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- "It's catastrophic," DeShurley added.
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- Bowen said: "It's the worst."
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- From Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN, Sept. 27, 2006:
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- The Iraqi prime minister today met with tribal leaders
from Al Anbar Province, trying to win their support in the war against
Al Qaeda. The meeting reflects rising concern about the direction of the
military campaign in Al Anbar Province. A recent Marine Corps intelligence
report saying the United States has already lost the political battle to
defeat the enemy there. Michael Ware, who has been recently with the U.S.
Marines in Al Anbar now reports from Baghdad -- Michael.
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- MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: Lou,
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has met with the leaders of 16 tribes
vowing to fight against Al Qaeda domination of the western province. Whilst
this is being hailed as a step forward, this has been seen before. And
these 16 tribal figures only represent relatively powerless sub-tribes,
which are already the subject of an intense assassination and car bomb
campaign by Al Qaeda.
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- However, this is the model that the U.S. military is
hoping will work to drive a wedge between Sunni insurgents and communities
in this province and Al Qaeda. A senior coalition military intelligence
official today said that this template has worked in other western towns.
By empowering the local tribes, this official says, the U.S. has seen the
towns reclaimed by the Iraqis and retaken from Al Qaeda.
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- And there has since been a campaign launched by these
tribes of targeted assassinations against Al Qaeda leaders in their area.
Nonetheless, with 30,000 troops in this province, the Marine general command
says he does not have enough men at his disposal to win against this Al
Qaeda-lead insurgency at this point -- Lou.
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- DOBBS: Michael Ware reporting from Baghdad.From "Murray
Says Bush Administration's Failures on Veterans Care and Iraq War Planning
Demand Congressional Oversight," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sept.
26, 2006:
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- On June 23rd, the VA revealed a massive shortfall of
$3 billion. [...]
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- [O]n March 10th, I offered an amendment in the Senate
Budget Committee to increase veterans funding by 3% so we could hire more
doctors and provide faster care to veterans. Unfortunately, Republicans
said no.
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- That same month, the VA's internal monthly reports showed
that demand for healthcare was exceeding projections. That was another
warning sign that the VA should have shared with us, but it didn't. On
March 16th, Senator Akaka and I offered an amendment here on the Senate
floor to increase veterans funding by $2.85 billion. Once again, Republicans
said no.
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- The next month, on April 5th, Secretary Nicholson wrote
to Senator Hutchison saying "I can assure you that the VA does
not need emergency supplemental funds in FY 2005."A week later, on
April 12th, I offered two amendments on the Senate floor to boost veterans
funding. First, I asked the Senate to agree that the lack of veterans funding
was an emergency and that we had to fix. Republicans said no. Then I asked
the Senate to agree that supporting our veterans was a priority. Again,
Republican said no. As a result, veterans didn't get the funding they needed,
and the deception continued.
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- On June 9th, I asked Secretary Nicholson at a hearing
if he had enough funding to deal with the mental health challenges of veterans
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He assured me the VA was fine.
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- So for six months we had happy talk that everything was
fine with the VA. Then, in June just two weeks after the Secretary's
latest assurance -- the truth finally came out. On June 23rd, the VA revealed
a massive shortfall of $3 billion. I went to work my colleagues, and we
came up with the funding. But we could have solved that problem much earlier
and saved veterans the delays they experienced. [...]
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- Whether dealing with the large number of veterans with
severe physical injuries, or traumatic brain injuries, the VA has no plan.
Whether dealing with the 16 percent of wounded service members coming back
from Iraq who have eye injuries, which Walter Reed reported in August
the VA has no plan. Whether it is dealing with the over one third of all
service members to return home and separate from the military who are seeking
mental health services the VA has no plan. ...
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- This isn't listed in the statistical news stories above
the fold, but it's one more important story that the American people aren't
hearing. From The Situation Room segment with Jack Cafferty, CNN:
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- JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We don't know yet if there
will be an October surprise but there may well be a November surprise.
There are reports the Pentagon is considering sending more of our National
Guard troops into battle in Iraq after the election. See, five years of
war in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the army almost to the breaking
point. And while the Washington brain trust that's running this operation
continues to deny that there's a manpower shortage or that we might need
a draft to fight these two wars, a lot of soldiers are on their third and
fourth combat tours.
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- So the administration is considering sending more National
Guard troops over there to fight. But they're not going to tell us, before
the election. It's the same old story. Keep the bad news to themselves
until after the election. The National Guard consists of part-time civilian
soldiers. They didn't sign up because they wanted to do combat duty in
Iraq. And besides, what if we get another Katrina or something worse here
at home?
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- Do we really want the National Guard 10,000 miles away,
bogged down in the quicksand that's become Iraq? Here is the question.
Should the United States commit additional National Guard troops to the
war in Iraq? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com, or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile.
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- More excerpts from the news stories listed above the
fold are available by clicking on their links.
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- http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/09/iraq_its_price.html#more
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