OT: March 19, 5th anniversary of Iraq War

[patientlywaiting]

1/2 a trillion dollars and 5 years later.

Do you guys think anything was achieved?

1) Did we get value for our money?
2) How about value for the lives lost?
3) Would gas be that expensive without the war?

[SD Transplant]

I’ve heard the same question on KPBS this morning and here it is what came to mind immediately. I don’t know if I could call these accomplishments, but they might be for some:

1) Spending aprox $12 billion daily with our troops deployed
2) The dead count is way over 3,000 for our troops (no clue how many maimed for life)
3) Barrel of oil at about $111 from $36 pre-war level
4) Dick Cheney – is richer via Halliburton’s fat contracts
5) We know that WMDs and Iraq’s ex president were no real treat to the US (WMD were non-existent; Sadam Hussein was a big loud mouth – a little bit like Alan Greenspan – just not in the same line of business)
6) Recently (last decade), we stunk at spreading DEMOCRACY and lost our true American reputation along with it.
7) After 5 years we still can’t get the oil production to the pre-war levels & Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than before.
8) No – there was no Al Queda in there – but they are there now – so we are going to keep this going

Too many other to list – but it’s a great question.

P.S. Some of the figures I heard recently (Radio, various reading sources, so I don’t have exact #s or sources)…. but I hope that I’m not too far off.

[SD Transplant]

I’ve heard the same question on KPBS this morning and here it is what came to mind immediately. I don’t know if I could call these accomplishments, but they might be for some:

1) Spending aprox $12 billion daily with our troops deployed
2) The dead count is way over 3,000 for our troops (no clue how many maimed for life)
3) Barrel of oil at about $111 from $36 pre-war level
4) Dick Cheney – is richer via Halliburton’s fat contracts
5) We know that WMDs and Iraq’s ex president were no real treat to the US (WMD were non-existent; Sadam Hussein was a big loud mouth – a little bit like Alan Greenspan – just not in the same line of business)
6) Recently (last decade), we stunk at spreading DEMOCRACY and lost our true American reputation along with it.
7) After 5 years we still can’t get the oil production to the pre-war levels & Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than before.
8) No – there was no Al Queda in there – but they are there now – so we are going to keep this going

Too many other to list – but it’s a great question.

P.S. Some of the figures I heard recently (Radio, various reading sources, so I don’t have exact #s or sources)…. but I hope that I’m not too far off.

[SD Transplant]

I’ve heard the same question on KPBS this morning and here it is what came to mind immediately. I don’t know if I could call these accomplishments, but they might be for some:

1) Spending aprox $12 billion daily with our troops deployed
2) The dead count is way over 3,000 for our troops (no clue how many maimed for life)
3) Barrel of oil at about $111 from $36 pre-war level
4) Dick Cheney – is richer via Halliburton’s fat contracts
5) We know that WMDs and Iraq’s ex president were no real treat to the US (WMD were non-existent; Sadam Hussein was a big loud mouth – a little bit like Alan Greenspan – just not in the same line of business)
6) Recently (last decade), we stunk at spreading DEMOCRACY and lost our true American reputation along with it.
7) After 5 years we still can’t get the oil production to the pre-war levels & Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than before.
8) No – there was no Al Queda in there – but they are there now – so we are going to keep this going

Too many other to list – but it’s a great question.

P.S. Some of the figures I heard recently (Radio, various reading sources, so I don’t have exact #s or sources)…. but I hope that I’m not too far off.

[SD Transplant]

I’ve heard the same question on KPBS this morning and here it is what came to mind immediately. I don’t know if I could call these accomplishments, but they might be for some:

1) Spending aprox $12 billion daily with our troops deployed
2) The dead count is way over 3,000 for our troops (no clue how many maimed for life)
3) Barrel of oil at about $111 from $36 pre-war level
4) Dick Cheney – is richer via Halliburton’s fat contracts
5) We know that WMDs and Iraq’s ex president were no real treat to the US (WMD were non-existent; Sadam Hussein was a big loud mouth – a little bit like Alan Greenspan – just not in the same line of business)
6) Recently (last decade), we stunk at spreading DEMOCRACY and lost our true American reputation along with it.
7) After 5 years we still can’t get the oil production to the pre-war levels & Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than before.
8) No – there was no Al Queda in there – but they are there now – so we are going to keep this going

Too many other to list – but it’s a great question.

P.S. Some of the figures I heard recently (Radio, various reading sources, so I don’t have exact #s or sources)…. but I hope that I’m not too far off.

[SD Transplant]

I’ve heard the same question on KPBS this morning and here it is what came to mind immediately. I don’t know if I could call these accomplishments, but they might be for some:

1) Spending aprox $12 billion daily with our troops deployed
2) The dead count is way over 3,000 for our troops (no clue how many maimed for life)
3) Barrel of oil at about $111 from $36 pre-war level
4) Dick Cheney – is richer via Halliburton’s fat contracts
5) We know that WMDs and Iraq’s ex president were no real treat to the US (WMD were non-existent; Sadam Hussein was a big loud mouth – a little bit like Alan Greenspan – just not in the same line of business)
6) Recently (last decade), we stunk at spreading DEMOCRACY and lost our true American reputation along with it.
7) After 5 years we still can’t get the oil production to the pre-war levels & Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than before.
8) No – there was no Al Queda in there – but they are there now – so we are going to keep this going

Too many other to list – but it’s a great question.

P.S. Some of the figures I heard recently (Radio, various reading sources, so I don’t have exact #s or sources)…. but I hope that I’m not too far off.

[Arraya]

For some people it was a huge success. First, lets look at a excerpt from a speech Cheney gave back 99′ while he was with Halliburton.

By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? Governments and the national oil companies are obviously in control of about ninety per cent of the assets. Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greeter access there, progress continues to be slow.

Seems like he got the “prize”. I’d say the oil companies have unfettered access now. They even got to write their own contracts and did not have to spend any money on exploration, which by the way was getting very expensive. Too expensive to do actually.

Also, think of all the money in defense contracting. They build buildings and then get to knock them down and rebuild them again. You can’t beat that. That’s good steady work.

Let’s not forgot, it brought about a huge new industry. Corporate security forces i.e. Blackwater.

From a strategic point of view, it puts us in striking distance to people that are sometimes unfriendly to the US and/or also have more oil.

[Arraya]

For some people it was a huge success. First, lets look at a excerpt from a speech Cheney gave back 99′ while he was with Halliburton.

By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? Governments and the national oil companies are obviously in control of about ninety per cent of the assets. Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greeter access there, progress continues to be slow.

Seems like he got the “prize”. I’d say the oil companies have unfettered access now. They even got to write their own contracts and did not have to spend any money on exploration, which by the way was getting very expensive. Too expensive to do actually.

Also, think of all the money in defense contracting. They build buildings and then get to knock them down and rebuild them again. You can’t beat that. That’s good steady work.

Let’s not forgot, it brought about a huge new industry. Corporate security forces i.e. Blackwater.

From a strategic point of view, it puts us in striking distance to people that are sometimes unfriendly to the US and/or also have more oil.

[Arraya]

For some people it was a huge success. First, lets look at a excerpt from a speech Cheney gave back 99′ while he was with Halliburton.

By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? Governments and the national oil companies are obviously in control of about ninety per cent of the assets. Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greeter access there, progress continues to be slow.

Seems like he got the “prize”. I’d say the oil companies have unfettered access now. They even got to write their own contracts and did not have to spend any money on exploration, which by the way was getting very expensive. Too expensive to do actually.

Also, think of all the money in defense contracting. They build buildings and then get to knock them down and rebuild them again. You can’t beat that. That’s good steady work.

Let’s not forgot, it brought about a huge new industry. Corporate security forces i.e. Blackwater.

From a strategic point of view, it puts us in striking distance to people that are sometimes unfriendly to the US and/or also have more oil.

[Arraya]

For some people it was a huge success. First, lets look at a excerpt from a speech Cheney gave back 99′ while he was with Halliburton.

By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? Governments and the national oil companies are obviously in control of about ninety per cent of the assets. Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greeter access there, progress continues to be slow.

Seems like he got the “prize”. I’d say the oil companies have unfettered access now. They even got to write their own contracts and did not have to spend any money on exploration, which by the way was getting very expensive. Too expensive to do actually.

Also, think of all the money in defense contracting. They build buildings and then get to knock them down and rebuild them again. You can’t beat that. That’s good steady work.

Let’s not forgot, it brought about a huge new industry. Corporate security forces i.e. Blackwater.

From a strategic point of view, it puts us in striking distance to people that are sometimes unfriendly to the US and/or also have more oil.

[Arraya]

For some people it was a huge success. First, lets look at a excerpt from a speech Cheney gave back 99′ while he was with Halliburton.

By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? Governments and the national oil companies are obviously in control of about ninety per cent of the assets. Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greeter access there, progress continues to be slow.

Seems like he got the “prize”. I’d say the oil companies have unfettered access now. They even got to write their own contracts and did not have to spend any money on exploration, which by the way was getting very expensive. Too expensive to do actually.

Also, think of all the money in defense contracting. They build buildings and then get to knock them down and rebuild them again. You can’t beat that. That’s good steady work.

Let’s not forgot, it brought about a huge new industry. Corporate security forces i.e. Blackwater.

From a strategic point of view, it puts us in striking distance to people that are sometimes unfriendly to the US and/or also have more oil.

[Author]

Posts