2006.11.01: November 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Oman: Islamic Issues: Journalism: Terrorism: Speaking Out: Iraq: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: Oman RPCV Delinda C. Hanley writes: The Terrible Costs of Bush’s Reckless “War on Terror”
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2006.11.01: November 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Oman: Islamic Issues: Journalism: Terrorism: Speaking Out: Iraq: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: Oman RPCV Delinda C. Hanley writes: The Terrible Costs of Bush’s Reckless “War on Terror”
Oman RPCV Delinda C. Hanley writes: The Terrible Costs of Bush’s Reckless “War on Terror”
Just as Israel has discovered in Lebanon and Palestine, you can’t bomb a country into submission. It turns your own nation into a pariah state and energizes freedom fighters or terrorists around the world. After the initial worldwide support immediately following 9/11, Pew Research Center polls show a precipitous decline in positive attitudes toward the United States in Europe, Indonesia, Jordan, Turkey and Japan. Thanks to the occupation of Iraq, the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and accusations of U.S. troops raping, murdering and torturing Iraqis, the United States now has very low popularity ratings, according to polls conducted by Zogby International.
Oman RPCV Delinda C. Hanley writes: The Terrible Costs of Bush’s Reckless “War on Terror”
The Terrible Costs of Bush’s Reckless “War on Terror"
By Delinda C. Hanley
Caption: Wounded Iraqi girls cry at a hospital in the city of Samarra, 78 miles north of Baghdad, on Sept. 20, 2006. A suicide bomber smashed his car into the house of a tribal leader, killing six people and wounding 37, police said. Most of the victims were children. Iraqis have paid dearly for “Operation Iraqi Freedom” (AFP Photo/Mahmmoud Al-Samarraei).
FIVE YEARS AFTER the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Americans are finally examining the human and financial tolls of the “War on Terror” (see box) and deciding if the world is now a safer place. As the Nov. 7 congressional elections approach, more and more voters are asking candidates this and other tough questions about the war. It’s time for Americans to cross-examine the leaders who got us into this fix, as well as those who promise to get us out.
Does a candidate want to “stay the course” and continue the current military fiasco or hold a referendum to ask Iraqis and Afghans if they want the occupation of their lands to end? If Iraqis and Afghans choose freedom and self-determination, would that candidate vote to provide them with the financial resources to fix the infrastructure destroyed in years of war? This approach would be more honorable, not to mention cheaper, than continuing to support Bush’s war without end.
In a debate broadcast on Sept. 17, NBC’s Tim Russert asked Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and his Democratic challenger, former Secretary of the Navy James Webb: “If you knew Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, was it still worth going to war?”
Allen stood by his vote to support the war, while Webb said, “What you’ve seen over the last six years is a war that is an incredible strategic blunder of historic proportions...We didn’t go into Iraq because of terrorism. We have terrorists in Iraq because we went in there.”
Candidates no longer can plead ignorance or misinformation. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates the U.S. war in Iraq costs $6 billion a month, or $200 million a day. Readers may recall the furor roused in September 2002, when Lawrence Lindsey, then President George W. Bush’s top economic adviser, estimated the war in Iraq might cost $200 billion. He was rebuked and fired. Paul Wolfowitz, then Donald Rumsfeld’s deputy at the Pentagon, assured Congress that Iraqi oil revenues would pay our post-invasion expenses. Informed candidates now know the true cost of the war on a country which the president has admitted had nothing to do with 9/11.
Has the War Made Us Safer?
Just as Israel has discovered in Lebanon and Palestine, you can’t bomb a country into submission. It turns your own nation into a pariah state and energizes freedom fighters or terrorists around the world. After the initial worldwide support immediately following 9/11, Pew Research Center polls show a precipitous decline in positive attitudes toward the United States in Europe, Indonesia, Jordan, Turkey and Japan. Thanks to the occupation of Iraq, the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and accusations of U.S. troops raping, murdering and torturing Iraqis, the United States now has very low popularity ratings, according to polls conducted by Zogby International.
Muslim-majority countries, as well as 75 percent of American Muslims and 70 percent of British Muslims, believe the “War on Terrorism” actually is a “War on Islam.” A growing number of people, both at home and abroad, believe the U.S. is fighting this war in order to control world oil supplies, achieve world hegemony and support Israel.
Finally, a 2006 BBC poll found that in 33 of the 35 countries surveyed—a sampling from five continents and the Middle East—on average 60 percent think the war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism. Isn’t it time for our elected leaders to change direction? If they don’t, perhaps in November Americans will elect new representatives who will.
Delinda C. Hanley is news editor and executive director of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
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Story Source: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Oman; Islamic Issues; Journalism; Terrorism; Speaking Out; Iraq
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