Iraq war worth the cost?

NoahFence

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NoahFence
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So I'm perusing this article on Boston.com that starts with this paragraph:


After nearly nine years, 4,500 US deaths, 32,000 more wounded, and $800 billion spent, the Iraq war ends with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saying the costs were worth steering Iraq toward democracy.
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:jaw-dropp

I desperately need someone to reply and make sense of that. In what alternate universe would those deaths, injuries and financial cost (that's clearly not over yet) be worth it??

How many hungry could be fed with that? How many jobs created? How many homeless sheltered?
 
NoahFence said:
So I'm perusing this article on Boston.com that starts with this paragraph:





:jaw-dropp

I desperately need someone to reply and make sense of that. In what alternate universe would those deaths, injuries and financial cost (that's clearly not over yet) be worth it??

How many hungry could be fed with that? How many jobs created? How many homeless sheltered?
Click to expand...

How many Iraqi's get a chance at a future without rape chambers?
 
NoahFence said:
I desperately need someone to reply and make sense of that. In what alternate universe would those deaths, injuries and financial cost (that's clearly not over yet) be worth it??

How many hungry could be fed with that? How many jobs created? How many homeless sheltered?
Click to expand...

Please note that I have always been opposed to the war in Iraq but....

Some (most ?) of the $800billion cost would have been incurred in any case. There would still have been military salaries to have been paid and equipment have been bought and used.

There cost that were avoided. How much would Saddam Hussein's regime cost in terms of instability in the Middle East, increased oil costs and so on.

There's also the benefit of demonstrating the US's (and allies, but let's face it the US did most of the military hard-yards) ability to project force at a distance.

There's a hope that a democratic Iraq will provide a catalyst to a string of democratic (and Western-leaning) governments in the Middle-East, particularly Syria and Iraq (we're less bothered about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain).

But mostly it's politics. They can hardly say "well it was a bit of a waste of time, money and lives"

I'm not sure any war can be justified on a purely cost benefit analysis.
 
NoahFence said:
So I'm perusing this article on Boston.com that starts with this paragraph:





:jaw-dropp

I desperately need someone to reply and make sense of that. In what alternate universe would those deaths, injuries and financial cost (that's clearly not over yet) be worth it??

How many hungry could be fed with that? How many jobs created? How many homeless sheltered?
Click to expand...

It was worth it for the defense contractors.
 
NoahFence said:
So I'm perusing this article on Boston.com that starts with this paragraph:





:jaw-dropp

I desperately need someone to reply and make sense of that. In what alternate universe would those deaths, injuries and financial cost (that's clearly not over yet) be worth it??

How many hungry could be fed with that? How many jobs created? How many homeless sheltered?
Click to expand...

That sounds about right!

One should always expect the US Secretary of Defense to always speak in postive terms regarding what the US Department of Defense is doing and of US policy in general.
 
Was the war worth it? That depends by what measure you want to use. Did much change in Iraq, sadly I would have say no. Iraq was a politically fractured nation before Saddam gained power, it appears to be returning to that same state as we speak.

The US learned that a new generation was instilled with the need to serve and sacrifice - To take its place among the generations that had come before and made the same decisions

Americans learned not to blame the troops. Regardless of ones opinion of the politics of the war, no one turned on the troops. Unlike Vietnam, when the serving boys and girls came home, people said thank you - scary how important such a simple gesture can be.

It really is not for us to decide the question, was the war worth it. Future history books, removed from the emotion and passion, and able to study what is to come for the region will do that for us

I hope for the thousands who died or had their life affected by the event the answer is yes.
 
I love how in the accounting of the cost of war there was no mention of the number of Iraqis killed, or wounded.

How easy it is to forget about that side of the ledger.

IMO, Iraq was not "worth it" and no political spin can change that.
 
That's what I'm saying....

800 Billion sure could go a long, long way to helping Americans. Instead we piss it away in some 3rd world country and the only people who reap the benefits either don't care about America, or are financially invested in the war. That's MY money. I want to build a school here at home, not in some country where democracy has zero chance of sticking.
 
citizenzen said:
I love how in the accounting of the cost of war there was no mention of the number of Iraqis killed, or wounded.

How easy it is to forget about that side of the ledger.

IMO, Iraq was not "worth it" and no political spin can change that.
Click to expand...

I was going to mention that was left out also. But the reverse is how many would have been killed in Iraq without the war under Saddam.
 
This cost also seems to neglect the cost of tending to the effects on soldiers like PTSD and disability for the rest of their lives. Factoring that in, the cost is more like 3 trillion dollars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Trillion_Dollar_War

Still worth it?

The millions of homeless Iraqis? Still worth it?

The hundreds of thousand of wounded Iraqis?

The ones who died of disease and filthy water?

Nope. Not worth it. Panetta is spinning, but he's wrong.
 
NoahFence said:
That's what I'm saying....

800 Billion sure could go a long, long way to helping Americans.
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Strangely enough a lot of it did.

Where I live. every third house is owned by someone that works for a defense contractor. Look up someday how many Americans work for or benefit directly from defense.

Sad but, eye opening reality.
 
Newtons Bit said:
How many Iraqi's get a chance at a future without rape chambers?
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Good question.

The answer is, depends on what kind of country Iraq is going to be from now on.

Presumably those that died in the war and subsequent descent into mayhem don't have to worry about rape chambers anymore and there are no definitive figures for those.
 
MG1962 said:
It really is not for us to decide the question, was the war worth it. Future history books, removed from the emotion and passion, and able to study what is to come for the region will do that for us
Click to expand...

Really? Not for us to...?

I think the idea is that when deciding to go to war decisions should be made about the relative costs and benefits. I think it is a cop out to shoot first and let the historians sort it out - to mangle and paraphrase a mixed bag of metaphors.
 
DGM said:
Strangely enough a lot of it did.

Where I live. every third house is owned by someone that works for a defense contractor. Look up someday how many Americans work for or benefit directly from defense.

Sad but, eye opening reality.
Click to expand...

People who benefit from defense can still benefit without a war.
 
DGM said:
Strangely enough a lot of it did.

Where I live. every third house is owned by someone that works for a defense contractor. Look up someday how many Americans work for or benefit directly from defense.

Sad but, eye opening reality.
Click to expand...

Well, now the war is over the question becomes, is the peace worth it?

No? Best start another war. Sad but true, eh?
 
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