The Costs of the US Wars

It is very difficult to explain why the government of this country continues the war in Afghanistan and maintains thousands of soldiers in that region.

The war, which has been on for more than a decade, has failed to liquidate the resistance. The Taliban, far from being overcome, have been strengthened. They are still there, planting bombs, fighting back and bringing down helicopters.

We all know that the Soviets, who have borders on that country, had to leave that territory. If that power, just a few miles away, was defeated, what makes the government of this country think that it can emerge victorious from that hornet’s nest? Over ten years of war should have opened the eyes of the decision makers in the U.S.

There are promises by the government that, in a few years, troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. But why stay there another month? The resistance grows in power. Fields of poppies grow in size, and the governments imposed by the invading troops do not have total control even in the capital.

So the war, instead of approaching a final victory, nears a total disaster. Nothing is gained by the government of this country by maintaining soldiers in that country; on the contrary, it’s losing on all fronts, the worst of which is that of public opinion.

In this year alone, several events have occurred that only serve to further damage the image of this country. Photographs of American soldiers urinating on Afghan corpses, burning sacred Muslim books and then slaughtering dozens of innocent civilians have surfaced. All these events have occurred in the first four months of this year. The people of this country shouldn’t have to carry the burden of immorality and murder on their backs just to please a number of hawks who want to maintain a war that is not leading them to any safe harbor.

As always, the errors of the rulers are paid by the people. The Muslim world hates the U.S. Hate is terrible. Thousands upon thousands have died for the aggressive policy against that region. No citizen of this country can feel safe anywhere near that region, not even in Europe.

But it’s not only paying a high price in public opinion. The war has cost billions of dollars so far and, what’s worst, the lives of thousands and thousands of young soldiers who have fallen defending the irrational stay of America in the country.

The Eisenhower Research Project, a study group held at Brown University by a group of professionals from different branches of knowledge, revealed some interesting data on the cost of the wars waged by the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here are some of the facts:

• More than 6,000 soldiers have died in these conflicts, and hundreds of thousands have been wounded and maimed. We do not yet know how many have died after returning home.

• At least 138 thousand innocent civilians have lost their lives in those countries, not counting the millions and millions displaced; the study estimates that number to be over seven million.

• The deaths of civilians and soldiers in the three wars totals 236,000. That is not counting those who may have died of malnutrition, lack of care or environmental degradation as a result of the conflict.

• It is estimated that the wars so far have cost the U.S. approximately $4 billion, which does not include estimates of what it will cost as it continues in its absurd way.

• In Iraq, the U.S. government said that it had withdrawn all combat troops deployed there, but there still remain thousands of U.S. contractors armed to the teeth. In addition, the security situation has not improved at all, nor has the infrastructure in cities, and ethnic relations are going from bad to worse. The Iraqi people now live ten times worse than before the U.S. invasion.

These wars have been a disaster. If their aim was the destruction of terrorism, they have not only failed to do so, but have also given the opportunity for real terrorists to be trained. I’ve always thought that the war on terrorism is won not only with few men and a lot of intelligence, but also by not sponsoring terrorism itself. This causes a thousand times more damage to terrorist organizations than the thousands of soldiers invading a country.