Friday, September 15, 2006

Win Without War has put out an excellent resource -- a Citizens Toolkit on Iraq. It's designed to help people arm themselves with facts with which to confront people running for election -- and efforts to use rhetoric instead of fact to justify our ongoing military occupation.

One of its big strengths is that the fact sheets are all footnoted. For example...

More than three years after invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, the costs for America continue to grow - More than 2,600 U.S. soldiers killed and 18,000 wounded in action and to date, more than $320 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent on operations in Iraq, which equates to $8 billion a month, $2 billion a week and $267 million a day.

Violence escalates and claims more Iraqi lives. According to a recent report issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, the total number of Iraqi civilians killed in the first six months of 2006 was more than 14,338, with a 77% jump in the civilian death toll between January and June. The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on June 25th that at least 50,000 Iraqis have died violently since the 2003 invasion.

Economists estimate actual cost of the war will rise to $2 trillion. With the raising costs of combat operations, veterans disability and medical treatment payments, and replacement military equipment, economists at Columbia and Harvard have estimated that the true cost of the war could total as much as $2 trillion, $10,000 for every household in the U.S.

There are also guides for activism and a collection of other opportunities for involvement. Check it out. |
Mike at 9/15/2006 12:19:00 PM