The true cost of the war.

I feel a little guilty about the post from a few days ago because it was about money.

The real tragedy of the war is the number of people that have been killed or wounded. 2296 Americans have died, while an ASTOUNDING (and little publicized) 16,653 Americans have been wounded. Let's keep in mind that most of these Americans are teenagers or in their early twenties. These young men and women that have been wounded will struggle with their disabilities and dismemberments for the rest of their lives.

Little is said about about the tens of thousands of Iraqis that have died. Official figures do not exist because the governments will not release them (or is it that their lives weren't important enough to keep accurate figures?) but they range between 30K and 100K. They are men, women, and children. Many are like you and me, trying to go through their daily lives. Many died trying to defend their own country (not talking terrorists here), even if their ruler was a corrupt dictator (like our own?).

I did mention the dollar amount because the figure is quite surprising. When one includes the lifetime healthcare costs for those injured in the war, the figure explodes. Not much return for our money since Iraq slides towards civil war more and more every day and is less stable and safe than it was under Hussein. And remember that Bin Laden guy? He's still running around, though no one seems to care much anymore. The saddest part is that we will be paying for this war for the rest of our lives, and then our children will be paying it off.