After sending some two millions troops into Iraq and Afghanistan during the past ten years, I think we have to start asking some questions. Have these two wars been worth what they’ve cost us, especially in casualties, and are they worth continuing?
– Military Deaths – 5,768 young U.S. troops have lost their lives in these campaigns so far, as well as 1,139 allied troops.
– Military Injuries – Over 30,000 U.S. troops have been severely injured. Some 250,000 have applied for mental health help since returning home. Thousands more have acquired drug and alcohol additions, and many are undergoing rehabilitation. Many families have been split up. The unemployment rate among returning veterans is double the national rate. Many of these troops are among the 800,000 troops have been re-deployed, serving more than a single deployment in one or both regions.
– Civilian Casualties – Countless hundreds of thousands of allied Iraqi and Afghan civilians have been killed and injured.
– Military homeless – Thousands of returning veterans are now homeless.
– Civilian Displacements – Countless hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians have been displaced from their homes.
– We’ve spent about one trillion dollars on these wars.
Has it been worth it, and is it worth it for us to continue staying in Iraq and Afghanistan? Nearly 6,000 U.S. and allied troops have been killed, and hundreds of thousands of our troops have been injured and are facing dire circumstances since leaving the military. In addition, hundreds of thousands of our allied civilians have been killed or displaced from their homes.
The monetary cost of these wars has been more than both Obama’s stimulus package and his health insurance bill, which everyone is complaining about. What about complaining about the fact that our young troops continue to lose their lives by stepping on IEDs almost every day. What about complaining about the plight of their families, and their inability to successfully re-enter society when they return?
We lost 2,977 people in the 9/11 attacks. The real question is: Has it really been worth all of these additional losses? Are we that much safer than before? Can we objectively point to instances where our losses have prevented other attacks? Perhaps it’s time to weigh the cost of war. Furthermore, are we really trying to win? If we’re a military super power, why are we unable to win, and why are we unable to kill Osama Bin Laden?