There have been 4,516 coalition deaths -- 4,202 Americans, two Australians, one Azerbaijani, 176 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, five Georgians, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvians, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of November 21, 2008. This includes the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country's governments. Also included are seven employees of the U.S. Defense Department.
At least 30,793 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. This does not include soldiers who die of their wounds or suicides when they are stateside.
Documented deaths of Iraqi civilians are more than 94,260. Most deaths are not documented and some experts believe the number is closer to over 2 million.
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Donald Rumsfeld, in 2003, estimated that the cost of the war in Iraq would be $50 billion. Five years and more than $500 billion later, Iraq has turned into a sinkhole for American taxpayers. In fact, recent analysis indicates that the true cost of the war could easily top $1-2 trillion dollars!
End the waste of money and lives! »
The war in Iraq is on track to be more expensive than any other war, except for World War II. Just think -- it has already been more expensive than the anticipated cost of the U.S. implementing the Kyoto Protocol to control greenhouse gases ($300 billion).
Countless lives lost and massive fiscal irresponsibility to boot -- the entire affair has been one debacle after another. Demand that the U.S. better use its resources and return its troops home. »
TAKE ACTION : http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/151569753?z00m=15873140
Guantanamo Justice After Seven Years
Since the Bush administration began transporting men and boys to Guantanamo Bay in January 2002, it has tried to prevent them from presenting their cases before a neutral federal judge. Indeed, the naval base was turned into a prison camp precisely to keep the detainees away from impartial courts. The government argued that federal courts had no jurisdiction over men detained on Cuban soil. Twice, the Supreme Court rejected that argument, finding that the United States exercises complete jurisdiction and control over the Guantanamo Bay base.
Drake Bennett, The Boston Globe: "For many Americans, the idea of a world without nuclear weapons is a bit like the idea of a world without war or disease - it would be nice, but, contra John Lennon, it's hard to imagine. That's not to say lots of people haven't devoted themselves to the cause. As the atomic age was dawning, Gandhi was already demanding its end, and today Pope Benedict XVI echoes that call. A host of international organizations, from Greenpeace to Mayors for Peace to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to the German Green Party, are dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Many of them have been at it for decades."
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship | It Was Oil, All Along
For Truthout, Bill Moyers and Michael Winship write: "Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al-Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire and ashes. And now the bottom line turns out to be ... the bottom line. It is about oil."
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