Another Year of War Begins Today

Five years ago today (has it really been that long ago?) The Chimp in Chief began his Desert Conquest. The Pentagon, with all of their shiny new toys and bunker busting bombs, promised us "Shock and Awe", an opening salvo so overwhelming and so destructive, that Saddam would instantly show us where those Weapons of Mass Destruction were. As it turned out, the only "shock and awe" about the whole thing was shockingly Bush and Company fucked things up. They awed us okay, awed us with their incompetence and total disregard for public opinion, facts and on the ground reality.

This war has seemingly been going on forever and yet it shows no signs of ever ending. If we leave now, Teh Glorious Surge will have been for naught and Iraq will fall into disarray. If we stay, it shows that Teh Glorious Surge was the right thing to do and Iraq will continue to fall into disarray. By now, the numbers are simply stunning, but they bear repeating on this fateful anniversary of the war. The Huffington Post has done a wonderful job of tallying up just what this war has cost, I urge you to check it out. Here are but some of the numbers:

3,990: American troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the war. [icasualties.org, 3/17/08]

29,395: Number of U.S. service members that have been wounded in hostile action since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq. [AP, 3/11/08]

2,100: Number of troops who tried to commit suicide or injure themselves increased from 350 in 2002 to 2,100 last year. [US News and World Report, 2/25/08]

1,188: Number of global terrorist incidents from January - September 11th, 2001. [American Security Project, "Are We Winning?," September 2007]

5,188: Number of global terrorist incidents in from January- September 11th, 2006. [American Security Project, "Are We Winning?," September 2007]

2,380: Days since September 11th, 2001 that Osama Bin Laden has been at-large.

$50-60 Billion: Bush Administration's pre-war estimates of the cost of the war. [New York Times, 12/31/02]

$3 Trillion: Total estimated cost of the Iraq War. [Washington Post, Bilmes and Stiglitz Op-Ed, 3/9/08]

82,000-89,000: Estimate of Iraqi civilians casualties from violence since the beginning of the Iraq War. [Iraq Body Count]

155,000: Number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq. [Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 3/13/08]

155,000: Number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq. [Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 3/13/08]

It's all rather sad and the worst part is, no one has any idea how the hell to get out of this mess, least of all Bush. If you think the war is a great idea, please vote for John McBush in November. If you hate this war, vote for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. The choice could not be more clear. For a list of blogs, including this one, that are participating in the Iraq War Blogswarm, click here.

Finally, I wish that I could find something humorous about this war, but I can't. The closest I can come is this skit from Mad TV in which the War in Iraq is suddenly a product sold by Apple, the iRack. Watch it as few other things come close to painting a better picture of just how futile the War in Iraq is:



Of course, Bush being Bush, had to respond: