The Bush-Cheney war in dollars

George W. Bush's first economic adviser, Lawrence B. Lindsey, predicted the Iraq war could cost as much as $200 billion. Bush fired him.

Right now the war is costing $411 million per day, which comes to almost $5,000 per second.

If one looks at future costs that are being incurred right now, they come to about $25 billion a month.

Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz says the eventual cost of the war will be about $3-4 trillion. (China and other countries will hold 40% of this increased debt.)

Just imagine the great things that could be done with this kind of money. Here are a couple of examples to get you started: The money spent each day could enroll 58,000 more kids in Head Start. It could give college Pell Grants to 153,000 students.

And oh yes, presidential candidate John McCain says the US military could stay in Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" and that "would be fine with me."

Please go retire someplace, Senator.

(Sources: BBC and CNN)

Eyes on Basra or Detroit?

As usual, I checked the BBC first thing yesterday morning. Their top story was about Basra and how Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi Army (which largely controls Iraq's Shia south) were backing away from their much-touted truce. War was erupting in the streets of Basra.

That was the BBC. Then I clicked on CNN. Story number one: Another political sex scandal, this time in Detroit. (Later I saw CNN's Headline News--it took them six or seven minutes to get to the Basra story.)

At this hour, US coverage of this latest Iraq debacle seems to be beating out mayoral sex. Sadr is pushing for civil disobedience throughout the country, and fighting by his militiamen has now spread to parts of Baghdad and other Shia areas.

Let's just hope that today does not bring another political sex brouhaha that will take attention from this new escalation in Iraq and the fact that yesterday the number of US troops killed there reached 4,001.

On "Good Friday"

"Stabat mater" are the opening words of a 13th century hymn sung during the devotion known as "The Way of the Cross." The first verse says "The grieving mother stood weeping near the cross while her son (Jesus) hung there." The way of the cross goes on relentlessly: In this photo, an Iraqi mother holds her child.

When will we ever learn?

From their own lips

The BBC reports that there were no anniversary parades in Baghdad yesterday. There were statements from the Iraqi leadership, including these:

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani: ""The walk on this new path began five years ago but it faces huge difficulties. There is violence and terrorism, and corruption has become a dangerous disease."

Iraqi Prime Miister, Nouri Maliki: ""Reconstruction and the building of services and culture cannot be achieved in the shadow of economic corruption, manipulation and the placement of dishonest people in sensitive places. These things must be reviewed before the provincial elections."

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie: ""Instead of leaving thousands of youngsters in the streets to be picked up by al-Qaeda, we should pay them more than al-Qaeda is paying them."

Hellish Anniversary

Here we are: the fifth anniversary of Bush's immoral, illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. And how does The Decider commemorate it? Madly. The BBC headline on its web site this morning is BUSH SPEECH HAILS IRAQ 'VICTORY'.

Bush spoke of "exaggerated estimates" and then said that "the costs are necessary..."

This number is not exaggerated--it is precise: As of Monday night, 3,990 US troops have been killed since March 19, 2003.

Just Foreign Policy estimates the number of Iraqi deaths due to the invasion at 1,189,173. For a detailed explanation of this estimate, type the following URL into your browser: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/counterexplanation.html.

I am convinced that history will roundly condemn us not only for this war but also for not impeaching George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney.

And what is next? John McCain may be the next Decider. He claims that the US might be there for one hundred years.

How many gates of hell might we charge through?

More lunatic talk from Bush

OK, yet again our country and the world are hearing lunatic talk from George W. Bush. The latest absurdity came out of his mouth yesterday in a videoconference with American military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan. No explication is needed. Just take a deep breath and read exactly what Bush said:

"I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you…in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks."

Ah yes, a fantastic and ROMANTIC experience to be on the front lines--where 776 coalition troops have been killed--487 of them Americans--along with thousands of Afghan civilians.

And there is this "young democracy"--which in reality is a country thoroughly riddled with corruption and bribery, without doubt the heroin capital of the world, and home to a resurgent Taleban.

As I type these words, there still remain 305 days, 21 hours and 57 minutes until the Charlatan Throne is vacated. Let us all take another deep breath.

The torture president (again)

Is anybody on this planet surprised? Imperial president George W. Bush yesterday vetoed a bill that would prohibit the CIA from using torture (such as waterboarding) on its prisoners.

Bush claims that his torture approval has "a proven track record of keeping America safe." But today's NY Times quotes a statement yesterday from Sen. John Rockefeller: “As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have heard nothing to suggest that information obtained from enhanced interrogation techniques has prevented an imminent terrorist attack,”

The Times also reports that Senate majority leader Harry Reid said Bush "disregarded the advice of military commanders, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, who argued that the military’s interrogation techniques were effective and that the use of any others could create risks for any future American prisoners of war." Reid said Bush "has rejected the Army field manual’s recognition that such horrific tactics elicit unreliable information, put U.S. troops at risk and undermine our counterinsurgency efforts.”

Yet another ton of bricks for the Unitary President's legacy pyramid as the worst president in American history.

(In the meantime, Bush is also brushing aside appeals to try Guantanamo prisoners in civilian courts and is using military tribunals instead.)

Borderlands travesty

All of us who work with migrants here in the borderlands around Tucson know about the latest travesty of federal justice. For decades, migrant workers who were caught crossing the border without papers were just deported. But now, in this year of nuttier-politics-than-usual, they are being prosecuted and jailed. Each day about 40 of the approximately 1,000 migrants caught in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector are hauled to the federal courthouse. Now, thanks to the Tucson Citizen's Billie Stanton (3/5/08), we have more details:

"The cattle call commences at 1 p.m. with the clink of shackles and the awkward shuffle of humiliated humans in handcuffs."

This pathetic circus, which the feds call Operation Streamline, is costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Just in Tucson, it costs $2.5 million for defense lawyers.

These dangerous criminals "wear the same tattered jeans and filthy shirts they had on many days ago in our desert. None is fat. All are thin. And some, like the mother with toothpick arms, are emaciated."

Stanton's article deserves national circulation. This daily show is supposed to frighten potential migrants in Mexico into staying home. But it will not. Desperation for survival always trumps bureaucracies. In the meantime, of course, the poor are shackled, and the war criminals in Washington continue to sip their champagne.
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To read Stanton's whole article, paste this URL into your browser:

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/frontpage/78649.php

America behind bars

On Friday the BBC ran an article online about how many people are in prison in the US. 2.3 million Americans are locked up--that's over 1% of our total adult population. The US is way ahead of China, Russia and Iran. Out of every 100,000 people, the US is imprisoning 750, South Africa 341, Iran 222 and China 119.

Last year the cost of imprisonment for our 50 states was $49 billion. 20 years earlier, that cost was less than $11 billion. This rate of increase is six times higher than the rate for higher education.

One in every 30 American men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars. In that same age group, one in nine black men is behind bars.

Something is very nuts here.