crossposted at: Someone Took in These Pants...
We all know what we are losing in the Iraq war. We are losing our precious soldiers. With 2,200+ dead, 16,000+ wounded, and countless others coming back with mental disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, we are losing a good segment of our young men, and the sanity of their families.
We lost our credibility as a nation. The lies that brought us into war have shot down the "America is a great peacemaking nation" image that was so valuable to us. Muslims nations, who before the war, didn't necessarily hate America a whole lot, now disapprove of America almost totally.
More about where the money is going below the fold...
We lost the faith of the Iraqi people. Now, 80% of the population considers us "occupiers" and less than a handful call us "liberators". Forty-five percent or more think it is okay to attack US troops.
And of course, the national treasury has lost billions of dollars regarding this war. In fact, some estimates say that, including the lifelong healthcare costs of brain-damaged soldiers, money lost in the economy due to deaths in Iraq, and all other costs combined could add up to over $1 trillion.
So with all this losing, who is winning? Salon explains here.
From a short item inside the Times' business section Sunday: "No matter how one feels about this particular conflict, war always has winners and losers -- on both sides." Some "indisputable winners" so far? Defense contractors. Courtesy of the Times, here are six top defense contractors and the percentages by which their profits have increased since 2004: Boeing (37.4 percent), Lockheed Martin (44.2 percent), General Dynamics (19.1 percent), Northrop Grumman (29.2 percent), Raytheon (108.9 percent) and Halliburton (292.9 percent).
I know it is predictable, but Halliburton profits have tripled because of this war. And Boeing and Lockheed Martin are doing pretty well, too. It's so simplistic. We went to war for the profit of a few at the expense of many, the powerless, the poor. And if you don't consider yourself poor, you probably are compared to these folks. I know I am. If you're not well enough off to have your own propaganda outlets and media channels, you are of no significance regarding this war. If you don't own gobs of defense stocks, you are of no significance. People like us are never of any significance unless we band together, fight together, and make our voice heard. And while Bush distracts the rest of the country with phony "gay marriage" issues and the "culture war," his friends are out raping the world, and looting our national treasury paid for by my and your tax dollars. So band together, and fight this insidious crap that you are being fed.
This is a rallying cry for Kossacks, all Democrats and independents, and true conservatives against this war. We need to take this country back, because corruption and lies are bad for everyone, including conservatives and libertarians. This isn't one side versus another. It's the people versus the corrupt government!