IRAQ WAR STATISTICS and DEMOCRACY ROLLBACK

HEADLINE NEWS:
09/29/06 - The Senate has agreed to give President Bush extraordinary power to detain and try prisoners in the so-called war on terror!

What makes me so angry about this is that some of our Democrats (12 in fact) joined the Republican majority and voted for this bill.

The vote was passed with 65 to 34 votes. The twelve Democrats who joined with the republicans, except for Senator Chafee of Rhode Island, are Tom Carper of Delaware, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, as well as Senator Menendez of New Jersey, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Senator Pryor of Arkansas, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Please watch Democracy Now, September 29, 2006 by clicking on the above theater, this episode is riveting!! thinkingblue

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY SAID: "I mean, this is -- it’s Kafka. But it’s more than that. It’s just a total rollback of everything this country has stood for. I mean, you have 100 people, very privileged, members of the Senate voting this way and with no realization of what it would be like if you were the one who was picked up. Maybe you’re guilty, but quite often, as we’ve seen, purely by accident and then held for years...."

Kafka, Franz. 1883-1924. Austrian writer whose stories, such as "The Metamorphosis" (1916), and novels, including The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.

PS: Below I have listed the extremely twisted but true statistics of the Bush Iraq war from The About.com Newsletter. They are very alarming and truly sad!

Iraq War Results & Statistics as of September 20, 2006

From Deborah White,
Your Guide to Liberal Politics: U.S..
Sep 24 2006

2,690 US Soldiers Killed, 20, 322 Wounded, 144,000 Remain in Iraq

For your quick reading, I've listed key statistics about the Iraq War, taken primarily from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, and from mainstream media sources. Data is presented as of September 20,2006, except as indicated.

US SPENDING IN IRAQ
Spent & approved to spend in Iraq - $505 billion of US taxpayers' funds, including $70 billion more approved by both Houses of Congress in Sept 2006

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

US AND COALITION TROOPS IN IRAQ

Coalition Troops in Iraq - Total 162,000, including 144,000 from the US, 7,200 from the UK, and 10,800 from all other nations (other than Iraq)

US Troop Casualities - 2,690 US troops; 98% male. 90% non-officers; 77% active duty, 14% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 17% killed by non-hostile causes. 53% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 68% were from the US Army

Non-US Troop Casualties - Total 234, with 118 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 20,322, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 52 total, 27 by enemy fire

IRAQI TROOPS, CIVILIANS AND OTHERS IN IRAQ

Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops - 84,105

Journalists killed - 77, 41 by murder and 36 by acts of war

Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

Iraqi Military and Police Casualties - 5,409

Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - The UN issued a report on Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties were significantly under-reported for at least July and August, 2006, and possibly longer. Casualties are estimated at 50,000 to over 100,00, but may be much higher.

Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 424

Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 288, including 53 killed, 147 released, 3 escaped, 6 rescued and 79 status unknown.

Daily insurgent attacks, Feb 2004 - 14

Daily insurgent attacks, July 2005 - 70

Daily insurgent attacks, Sept 2006 - 90

Trained Iraqi Troops Needed by July 2006 272,566

Trained Iraqi Troops, Per US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad in August 2005 - "Not very large."

Trained Iraqi Troops Able to Fight Without Major US Support, as of March 2006 - Zero

QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS

Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect

Consumer Price Inflation in 2005 - 20%

Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 25% in May 2006

Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%

Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 10.5

Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 6.1

Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems - 37%

Percentage of Iraqi Homes with Access to Piped Water - 78%

Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated - 22%

Hepatitis Outbreaks - 2002, 100; 2003, 170; 2004, 200.

Children Enrolled in Primary School - 2000, 3.6 million; 2004, 4.3 million

Telephone Subscribers - pre-war, 833,000; April 2006, 7.4 million

RESULTS OF POLL Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)

Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops - 82%

Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%

Iraqis who feel less secure because of the occupation - 67%

Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces - 72%

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Bob Woodward: Bush Misleads On Iraq - CBS News

ALARMING NEWS: Woodward told 60 Minutes that Saudi Prince Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.

Amazon.com
The 2003 American invasion of Iraq was contentious, not just in the arena of global public opinion, but within the tight-lipped world of the George W. Bush White House. As Bob Woodward reveals in Plan of Attack, Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were part of a group leading the charge to war while Secretary of State Colin Powell, General Tommy Franks, and others actively questioned the plan to invade a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks while war in Afghanistan was still being waged. Woodward gained extensive access to dozens of key figures and enjoyed hours of direct contact with the President himself (more time, seemingly, than former Bush administration officials Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill claim to have had). As a result, he's able to cite the kind of gossip you won't find in a White House press release: Franks calls Pentagon official Douglas Feith "the f*cking stupidest guy on the face of the earth," Powell shares his alarm over how the cautious Cheney of the first Bush administration had transformed into a zealot, and Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar seems to enjoy significantly more entrée and influence than most anyone would have thought. Bush is shown as a man intent on toppling Saddam Hussein in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and never really wavering in his decision despite offering hints that non-military solutions could be achieved. Light is also shed on CIA director George Tenet, who insists that the evidence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction was "a slam dunk" only to later admit that his intelligence was flawed when months of post-war searches turned up nothing. But the book's most interesting character is Powell. A former soldier himself, who finds himself increasingly at odds with the agenda of the administration, Powell rejects evidence on WMDs that he sees as spurious but ultimately endorses the invasion effort, apparently out of duty. Upon its publication, the Bush administration roundly denied many of the accounts in the book that demonstrated conflict within their circles, poor judgment, or lousy planning, but the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign nonetheless listed Plan of Attack as recommended reading. And it is. It shows alarming problems in the way the war was conceived and planned, but it also demonstrates the tremendous conviction and dedication of the people who decided to carry it out. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly

Based on exhaustive research and remarkable access to the White House, including two sessions with President Bush and more than 75 interviews with administration officials, veteran Washington Post assistant managing editor Woodward delivers an engrossing blow-by-blow of the run-up to war in Iraq. In November 2001, just months after September 11, Woodward reports, Bush pulled aside defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and asked him to secretly begin updating war plans for Iraq. Sixteen months later, in March 2003, after an intense war-planning effort, a tense political fight at home and a carefully crafted "if-you-don’t-we-will" diplomatic strategy with the U.N., the American invasion began. Woodward has penned a forceful, often disturbing narrative that captures the deep personality and policy clashes within the Bush administration. Bush, along with Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz, are portrayed as believing in a sweeping mission to export Democracy and to have America be viewed as strong and willing to walk the walk. They are counterbalanced by Colin Powell, who emerges here as a reluctant warrior, a pragmatic voice—eventually muted—cautioning the president against a rush to war. The most stunning aspect of the story, however, is the glaring intelligence failure of George Tenet’s CIA, from bad WMD information to what Woodward reports as the outright manipulation of questionable intelligence to make the case for war. With this book, Woodward, the author of an astonishing nine number-one bestsellers, has delivered his most important and impressive work in years. Ultimately, this first-class work of contemporary history will be remembered for shedding needed light on the Iraq War, whatever its final outcome.
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(IF YOU HAVE A GOOGLEPLAYER...PLEASE WATCH THIS VERY FRIGHTENING BUT ENLIGHTENING FILM. CLICK HERE...
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