On the anniversary of the war in Iraq that started in 2003 and continued to the present day, United States President George W. Bush said that it is important for the US to keep troops in the country.
Presumptive GOP nominee Senator John McCain has been using Iraq as his main platform for the presidential elections. Recently, he had come under fire for saying that US troops could still be in Iraq for 100 years. Though, McCain had said that he exaggerated those words.
On Wednesday, Bush plans to delivery a speech at the Pentagon.
Bush said: “Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can and must win.”
Many have complained about the loss of troops. Almost 4,000 US troops have been killed. Thousands more Iraqi civilians have also been killed.
In regards to the death of US troops, Bush adds: “No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq.”
Bush then also attacked the criticism of both US Democratic frontrunners Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. He said that the both of them cannot argue with credibility that the US is losing in Iraq.
In regards to cost, economists Joseph E. Stiglitz who won a Nobel Prize and Linda J. Blimes say that Iraq will cost at least $12 billion a month. They add that the war in Iraq could cost $3 trillion. Stiglitz’s recent book is called “The Three Billion Dollar War.”
Critics have also compared the war in Iraq to Vietnam. The incident in Haditha back in 2005 was nicknamed as “Bush’s My Lai” in comparison to the My Lai massacre.
So far, Iraq’s reconstruction has been slow a best. Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia have recently requested a congressional inquiry into Iraq’s oil revenues. It is to check if Iraqi can pay for its own reconstruction using its oil revenues.
So far, the money used for reconstruction has come out of US taxpayer money. Both of them state in a letter sent on March 7 that Iraq’s government has money in banks across the world. However, the government has not done much to improve the security situation or the reconstruction of the country.
Both senators are top members of the Armed Services Committee.
They had cited testimony from Paul Wolfowitz. In 2003, Wolfowitz explained that the US would not be paying for all of the reconstruction. He said that Iraq’s oil revenues could reach to the hundred billions after two or three years. That was said back in 2003. It is now 2008 as it is now at the five-year mark.
In a recent Pentagon report, corruption has been blamed for the slow reconstruction and recovery of Iraq.
Amnesty International and the Red Cross had both issued reports calling Iraq a severe humanitarian disaster. In the report by Amnesty International, key political benchmarks in Iraq have yet to be reached.
Both groups accuse Iraq’s government of not properly dealing with the humanitarian crisis.
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