What is the Iraq War?
In early March of 2003, then American President George W. Bush armed with the alliance of Great Britain and a handful of smaller countries declared war against the nation of Iraq and its then leader, Saddam Hussein. Claiming that the country was preparing and hiding weapons of mass destruction, Iraq’s enemies set in motion a chain of events that would continue to affect millions of lives in the future.
Ultimate reasoning behind the invasion included Iraqi defiance of United Nation’s terms for creation of nuclear weapons, Iraq’s disregard of human rights, and terrorism. The idea of attacking the nation of Iraq was not one that the United Nations and most civilians endorsed. Creating a firestorm of debate and contention, the lack of evidence pointing towards mass destruction weapons left the alliance with little to preserve its decision to invade. Many believe that the true cause for American and British action was due in large part to Iraqi oil control.
With the use of Bush’s “Shock and Awe” campaign, American and allied forces brought the nation of Iraq to halt on most fronts. Only some surviving militant groups remained and continued to fight against the invasion. Their leader, Saddam Hussein in hiding and the people of the country advancing towards a freer nation, Bush declared the mission a success on May 1st of 2003 and declared that major military operations would no longer be needed. In November of the same year, Hussein was captured hiding in a hole by American forces and surrendered with little protest.
While the Iraq war was proclaimed as a necessary evil by its contributors, people around the world have various opinions about the issue. Death tolls and massive expenditures are mostly to blame for unrest centered on the war. Today, the war is finished yet over 100,000 American soldiers remain in the country for stabilization of its new government, safety of the Iraqi people, and continued efforts to take down terrorist extremists.
Death Toll of Iraq War
As statistics vary dependent on the source, these are not guaranteed completely accurate. They are, however; in close proximity to the actual figures. The following information was obtained through the American Department of Defense (DoD) and CBC News.
American Soldiers: Upwards of 4,000 hostile and non-hostile deaths since during the period of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom until present day.
Alliance Soldiers: Estimated at over 300 deaths due to the war, over half of which came from Great Britain.
Iraqi Soldiers: Over 60,000 Iraqi police, military member, and insurgents are estimated to have been killed during the ongoing battle.
Iraqi Civilians: Unofficial numbers indicate the figure at 50,000 to over 100,000 Iraqi non military residents who have died since the initiation of the Iraq war in 2003.
Financial Cost of the Iraq War
Although the cost of human lives during the Iraq war is staggering enough, here are a few statistics showing the enormous amount of money required to fund the initiative. These numbers were borrowed from the Washington Post as well as MSNBC.
American Taxpayer Costs: Estimated to exceed over 3 trillion dollars, the most recent price tag placed on the Iraq war was over 600 billion American dollars.
Alliance Funds: Great Britain alone has declared that their expenditures have surpassed 9 billion in American money. Australia is said to have spent in excess of 3 billion dollars to help support the cause.
Regardless of personal convictions concerning the war in Iraq, one thing is most certainly evident; the cost for the action is high in both lives and money. Increased freedoms obviously do not come without the sacrifice of both as is manifested in all wars throughout the history of the world.