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The never-ending war

WORKERS, SEPT 2007 ISSUE

The war on Iraq has now lasted longer than World War One. 165 British soldiers and 3,674 US soldiers have been killed, and 25,000 wounded, with the last two months being especially costly.

The war is costing the USA $10 billion a month. It has cost the US taxpayer $500 billion so far, and the war on Afghanistan has cost another $100 billion.

Bush's 'Surge' of 20,000 extra troops has failed, as everyone knew it would. The USAF dropped 437 bombs and missiles in the first six months of 2007, compared to just 86 in the first six months of 2006. But this increase in bombing has failed as well. This June, attacks on US and Iraqi forces, civilian forces and infrastructure peaked at 177.8 per day, higher than in any month since May 2003.

The US state sponsors US companies, to the tune of $20 billion so far, including $1.6 billion to Halliburton. The US occupation spends more on administration than on education, construction, health, sanitation and clean water together. As a result, Oxfam reports:

43 per cent of Iraqis are in absolute poverty;

28 per cent of Iraqi children are malnourished;

32 per cent of internally displaced persons who need food rations can't get them;

70 per cent of Iraqis don't have adequate water supplies;

80 per cent don't have effective sanitation;

4 million Iraqis are in dire need of humanitarian assistance;

11 per cent of newborn babies are underweight.

Now 70 per cent of the American people want to withdraw the troops from Iraq. On 12 July, the US House of Representatives voted 223-201 to bring combat troops home by 1 April 2008.

• Last year, NATO air strikes killed between 2,000 and 3,000 Afghan civilians. In the first six months of 2007 NATO forces killed more Afghan civilians (359) than the Taliban did (279).

The USAF carried out 750 air strikes in May alone. A total of 66 British soldiers have now been killed there. The upper house of the Afghan Parliament has called for a ceasefire and a date to be set for the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

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