With the news that more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq it’s appropriate to mention other facts about this war.
The DoD has reported nearly 30,000 wounded soldiers.
Using standard statistical procedures we know that Iraqis have endured more than 1.2 million "excess" deaths since the war began. This excludes the two most violent provinces – Karbala and Al Anbar – for security reasons. The toll is likely to be significantly higher.
More than 4 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes with more than two million fleeing the country.
More than 60% of Iraqis are unemployed and electricity is still not back to pre-war levels in many areas.
Malnutrition in children has doubled.
Cholera outbreaks have occured.
Birth defects and cancer are continually rising, and likely due to our use of depleted uranium.
In a recent book by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes the cost of the war is estimated to exceed $3 trillion.
The most recent opinion polls available show that more than half of the Iraqi population wants us out within a year, approves of attacking our troops and they also feel our presence is the reason for the violence and that things will get better when we leave.
This is an illegal war and is what the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg said was "the supreme international crime": wars of aggression. We need to do more than impeach our leaders. We should hold them accountable and bring them to justice.
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