Iraq War Fact Sheet
Mon Sep 20, 2004 at 08:44:30 AM PDT
According to a recent
Newsweek poll, 42 percent of Americans still think Saddam was "directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks."
Another poll shows that more than half of Americans, 54%, still believe that Saddam had WMDs.
Many Americans seem not to be focussing on the war (in spite of everything) and to believe the propaganda-line that Bush and the Republicans disseminate.
One of Bush's lines is that Saddam would still be in power if America had not gone to war. Richard Reeves has writtten an effective rebuttal to this shallow view. (It is also posted and accessible at CFBA "Iraq News," if you have trouble with the link.)
Below I am including an organizing tool that some Kos readers may find useful. Feel free to copy it or to modify it as you wish.
Church Folks for a Better America -- A Time Comes When Silence Is Betrayal -- Iraq news, in-depth analysis, antiwar poems, good sermons, and more
Iraq War Fact Sheet
o Weapons of Mass Destruction Found: Zero.
o Evidence for a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda: None.
o Total number of U.S. troop deaths: Over 1000 -- and steadily growing.
o Average number of U.S. troop deaths per day: Two plus.
(More U.S. troops have now died in 2004 than in 2003.)
o Total number of civilian deaths from the war: Unknown.
(Estimates range from 10,000 to ten times that many.)
o Cost of the war to date: $125 billion.
o "Underestimated" amount still needed for this year: $12.3 billion.
o What $125 billion can buy: 2 million additional public school teachers, 1.5 million public housing units, 5 years of global anti-hunger efforts, 12 years of world-wide AIDS programs.
o Unemployment rate in Iraq: 40% or higher.
o Acute malnutrition rate for children under five since the start of the war: Doubled.
o Number who are without access to clean drinking water, and so subject to diseases like cholera: Millions.
o Institutions ruined by the war: Hospitals, universities, museums, police, basic services (electricity, water, sanitation).
o Kidnappings and rapes: Epidemic.
o Temperature in Baghdad during the summer: 115º/80º F.
o Hours of electricity per day in Baghdad: Around 8.
o Has abuse now been eliminated from the U.S. prisons? No.
o Iraqis who want U.S. to leave immediately: 57% (USA Today poll).
o Oil reserves in Iraq: World's second largest, currently estimated at 112.5 billion barrels, about 11% of the world total.
o Value of contracts awarded to Halliburton: $11 million. (More than twice for any other contractor. A number of "no-bid" contracts.)
o Background of Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi: Ex-Ba'athist, MI6, CIA.
o Number of new U.S. military bases planned for Iraq: 14.
o Planned U.S. Embassy: 1,300 persons (world's largest).
It is time for full accountability. And time to face reality about the war.
Church Folks for a Better America
Endorse Our Statement. Make a donation. Make a difference.
Visit our Website: www.cfba.info
Permalink | 3 comments