So let's debate the health of the American economy! $12 Trillion economy..... ON INCOMES: --Median household income in 2000: $47,599 --Median household income in 2005: $46,326 (US Census Bureau, Table H-8. Median Household Income by State: 1984 to 2005) --Salary of a full-time minimum wage employee without vacation: $10,712 --Average time for top CEOs to earn that sum: 2.06 hours (Forbes Magazine. "What the Boss Makes." April 20, 2006) --Federal minimum wage in 2000: $5.15/hr --Federal minimum wage in 2006: $5.15/hr --Loss in purchasing power, full time worker annually: $1,562 ON ENERGY PRICES: --Average price of home heating oil on Jan. 3, 2000: $1.15 per gallon --Average price of home heating oil on Jan. 1, 2007: $2.42 per gallon (U.S. Energy Information Admin. Jan. 4, 2007) --Average price of gasoline on Jan. 3, 2000: $1.31 per gallon --Average price of gasoline on Jan. 1, 2007: $2.38 per gallon (U.S. Energy Information Admin. Jan. 5, 2007) --Exxon Mobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion --Exxon Mobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion (CNNMoney.com, accessed Jan. 19, 2007) ON CLIMATE CHANGE: --Year Bush said Kyoto Protocol emission targets were ânot based upon scienceâ: 2000 --Decrease in NASA budget for Earth observation since 2000: 30 percent --Year with highest average U.S. temperature ever recorded: 2006 (The White House, June 11, 2001; New York Times, Jan. 21, 2006; National Climate Data Center. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Jan. 9, 2007) ON EDUCATION: --Average cost of a year at a public four-year college in 2000: $9,958 --Average cost of a year at a public four-year college in 2006: $12,796 (Costs include tuition, fees, room & board. MSN Money 2000/Associated Press. Jan. 14, 2005. College Board. Trends in College Pricing 2007) ON RETIREMENT SECURITY: --Workers without retirement plans at work in the private sector 2006: 80 percent --Baby boom Americans approaching retirement: 76 million (Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2006; The Seattle Times. Jan. 22, 2005) ON HEALTH CARE COSTS: --Americans without health insurance, 2000: 38.2 million --Americans without health insurance, 2005: 46.6 million (US Census Bureau, Sept. 2001; US Census Bureau, Aug. 2006) --Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage in 2000: $135 --Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage in 2006: $248 --Personal bankruptcies due to medical bills: 55 percent (The Kaiser Family Foundation, Sept. 26, 2006; Health Affairs Health Policy Journal, Feb. 2, 2005) ON THE IRAQ WAR: --Number of US troops killed in Iraq prior to âMission Accomplishedâ speech in 2003: 139 --Number of US troops killed in Iraq as of Jan. 22, 2007: 3,056 --Number of Iraqi civilians killed in 2006, according to the United Nations: 34,452 (iCasualties.org, Jan. 22, 2007; U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, Jan. 16, 2006) --Number of US troops wounded in Iraq prior to âMission Accomplishedâ speech in 2003: 542 --Number of US troops wounded in Iraq as of January 10, 2007: 22,834 (iCasualties.org. Jan. 10, 2007) --Total US military expenditures (including in Iraq and Afghanistan) in 2006: $522 billion --Total military expenditures of the 10 next top spenders combined: $386 billion (Includes China, Russia, the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Italy, and Australia. Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Feb. 16, 2006.) --U.S. Federal Discretionary Budget spent on Military not including Iraq, in 2006: 48.7 percent --Amount spent on Education: 6.7 percent (White House Office of Management and Budget, Feb. 6, 2006) ON DEBTS AND DEFICITS: --Monthly U.S. Trade Deficit in October 2000: $33.8 billion --Monthly U.S. Trade Deficit in October 2006: $58.9 billion (U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics. Jan. 10, 2007) --U.S. Current Account Deficit, FY 2000: $435.4 billion --U.S. Current Account Deficit, FY 2006: $900 billion (Economic Policy Institute. March 14, 2001; Economic Policy Institute. March 14, 2006) --Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the Euro, Jan. 24, 2000 to Jan. 23, 2006: 23 percent (X-rate.com, accessed Jan. 23, 2006) --US Budget Deficit in FY 2000: $230 billion surplus --US Budget Deficit in FY 2006: $423 billion deficit (White House Office of Management and Budget. Budget of the United States Government, Historical Tables, Fiscal Year 2007; White House Office of Management and Budget. Table S-1. 2006 budget totals) --US National Debt in FY 2000: $5.7 trillion --US National Debt in FY 2006: $8.5 trillion (Bureau of the Public Debt, Jan. 16, 2007) =========================== 100B??? you got it Bush!..... Hey Bernie... do me a favor!! while your out there printing money and giving it to the PPT..... give some more to Bushy....
The following appears to be a letter from a soldier stationed in Iraq. This letter arrived in my mailbox this morning. I find it interesting. === I thought it was a good idea to let you all know what the perspective is over here. I'm tired of hearing the media's skewed version, the politicians squabbling over what they read in a report, and the average ill-informed American ranting about things he knows NOTHING about. I've been over here a couple of months now, and I've learned more about this country than a year's worth of watching CNN. I've sat in mission briefs with Colonels, talked with village elders, had tea with Shieks, played with the kids. And I agree with the President. We need more troops and we need to take greater action. There are 3 major factions here. The Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The Shiites are in the majority, but Saddam was a Sunni, so he kept the Shiites in check. Everyone hates the Kurds, who are Christian and in the vast minority. The Kurds received the brunt of Saddam's murderous tyranny. Now that Saddam is gone, the Shiites have taken control of Baghdad. The largely peaceful Sunnis are now the victims of radical Shiite terrorism. So the young Sunni men, who can no longer go to work and support their families, do what all young men would do. They join the Sunni militia and battle the Shiites. And thus the country sits on the brink of civil war. But this war is between them. They largely do not concern themselves with the U.S. troops. The insurgents who battle the Coalition Forces are from outside the country. And the biggest problem down here isn't the insurgents. Its the politicians. The local politicians. Even though the country is controlled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, downtown Baghdad is controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Shiites follow al-Sadr and thus the Prime Minister does what al-Sadr says. Think of it as if a warlord controlled New York and blackmailed the President into diplomatic immunity. When 1st Cav (mainly 2/5 Cav) came here in 2004, they took downtown Baghdad (known as Sadr City) by force. It cost many lives, but after a year, we held an iron grip on the largest insurgent breeding ground in Iraq. The insurgents were afraid of the Horse People, and rightfully so. But when 1st Cav left, al-Sadr influenced the Prime Minister to kick out the Coalition forces from that area of Baghdad. He said the Iraqi military forces could hold the city. But all that happened was al-Sadr regained control of his city, and it is now a heavily guarded fortress. A place where insurgents and terrorists can train and stockpile arms. And we cannot go back in because the Prime Minister won't let us. Our hands are tied. So where does al-Sadr get his backing? From Iran and Syria. Iran supplies him with money and Syria supplies the terrorists. The insurgents that battle the Coalition Forces are from Syria, Somalia and dozens of other places outside of Iraq. Iraq is literally a terrorist breeding ground. They have terrorist and sniper schools here. Why not? They train by teaching them to attack the military forces here. And they have an endless supply of these training tools. They have factories in Sadr City to build bombs. Both Iran and Syria have openly proclaimed their number one goal in life is to destroy the great Western Devil and the little Western Devil (America and Britain). Iran wants to control Iraq to further this purpose. Al-Sadr will get to "run" the country and live like a king, but in reality Iran will pull the puppet strings. Iran will have access to thousands of radical Shiites who will do whatever al-Sadr tells them to. And Iraq will be used as a breeding ground for terrorism. Terrorism that will be targeted directly at America and Britain. The Iraq Study Group advised we should let Iran and Syria help with rebuilding? Bravo to President Bush for striking that idea down and vowing to keep those two countries out of Iraq. So how do the Iraqi people feel about everything? Of course they don't want the Americans here. But they would far rather have us here than the Iranians. My platoon visited an average Sunni village on a patrol a few days ago. Their only source of income was to farm, as they could not go to the city to work for fear of violence. Many of the young men had already run off to join the militia for no other reason than to feed their families. They had no school or hospital near them and the community was dying. The village elder's granddaughter was very sick and I was able to treat her. Afterwards he invited me and my Platoon Leader to sit in his house and have tea with him, and we talked about the situation. The people want peace. The Shiites kill the Sunnis because al-Sadr tells them to do so. The Sunnis fight back because they have no choice. They are glad Saddam is dead (Sunni or not), but do not want to replace him with another dictator in a politician's clothes (which is what al-Sadr will become). And they especially don't want Iran in charge. Many innocent Iraqis will die if this happens. These are the words that came out of the elder's mouth: "We do not want America here, and America does not want to be here. But you cannot leave because the militias control the country. America must use the might of its giant army and sweep through, root out and destroy the militias. Then Iraq can be free and you can leave." What appears to have happened within our diplomatic community, is that Prime Minister finally realizes that his days are numbered. If al-Sadr remains, he will be kicked to the curb. So hopefully he is about to allow us to reenter Sadr City, root out and destroy the enemy. A dramatic troop increase will allow us to do this. And the Horse People are back and ready to finish what they started over 2 years ago. If leave now, it will be a failure for democracy. Iran will control Iraq and the end result will be more terrorist attacks on America. The American people don't want soldiers dying over here, but its better than American civilians dying over there. Do NOT forget 9/11. They will do it again. The moment we loosen our grip on the noose, they will do it again. And the only way to root out the evil here is to stop beating around the bush, increase troops and destroy the insurgents once and for all. The Iraqi government cannot do this on their own. The Iraqi security forces are inadequate for this task. We are the only ones who can stop al-Sadr. Feel free to share this with whomever wants a real soldier's opinion about the war. SPC "Doc" Shurley 2/5 Cav, 1st CB
I'm a little confused about how 19 Saudis - whose full identities were apparently known by ther FBI mere days after a "surprise" attack - have anything to do with the citizens of Iran and Iraq who have never invaded or attacked another country. This letter strikes me as a propaganda piece. After all , they war is against our hearts and minds. The military and govt employ brilliant marketers and PhD to feed us info daily. It's called total specturm dominance. There is no real news any more, it all comes from propraganda "official sources" We have destroyed their way of life in Iraq, taken their oil, why do we hate their freedom? It was also done in 1991. What do you think youyr neighborhood would look like coated with DU-tipped bullets, 500lb bombs, checkpoints, door to door raid, NO fair trials still. Would YOU put up with that?
I think the first two posts clearly lay out where we are. The American people never understood we were going to be responsible for rebuilding Iraq and funding its govenment or the costs of maintaining large numbers of troops there on a wartime footing. In fact, we were lead to believe that iraq and other arab states would repay us for our expense. The decision to invade was clearly a huge mistake, and we compounded it several times over by a series of disastrous mistakes in implementing the occupation. On the other hand, pulling out now could lead to a horrifying outcome. Our past strategy was woefully inept, but that is no excuse to hand a giant victory to iran and the terrorists.
Inaccuracies abound, but here are some: 1. Kurds aren't Christian, they're overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. There are Christian Kurds, but they are minute proportion of the total. 2. I doubt that the 1st Cavalry ever controlled Sadr City the way the author describes -- the residents of that neighborhood may have allowed them to think that because it was in their interests to avoid conflict with US troops, but they never actually did. 3. The insurgents are overwhelmingly local. While there are some foreign fighters, they are a minor part of the whole -- and are only there because the US troops are there. 4. al-Sadr and Iran do not get along most of the time, as al-Sadr is a staunch Iraqi nationalist. 5. Sunni's are not "largely peaceful." Most American casualties were by Sunni insurgents. I don't know whether this "Doc" Shurley really exists. Even if he does, his understanding of Iraq does not go beyond what the Bush propaganda tells him.
Oh sure, Bush is so responsible he makes war and cuts taxes (mostly benefiting the wealthy) simultaneously...
"On the other hand, pulling out now could lead to a horrifying outcome." Oh, yes this message brought to you by the same great thinkers who said if we pull out of Vietnam the commies will take over the entire Asian rim...
Well, then double down... we should cost average down instead of taking the stop loss kick us out of the trade
Really? That's not how I read it at all, not that I'm dis-agreeing with your take. I see the two posts illustrating how our government has completely ignored domestic policy in favor of nation building with the result being a total failure on both fronts.