Wednesday, March 12, 2008
So ... how's that Middle East freedom and democracy thing going?
Hey, kids ... remember how that invasion of Iraq was going to be done in short order, on the cheap and with a minimal loss of life, and how it was going to usher in a new era of Mid-East peace, flowering democracy and super inexpensive oil? How exactly did that turn out?
Uh oh ...
In other news, those same folks would like to warn you that manmade climate change is a complete myth. And what reason would you have to doubt them? Really.
CAVEAT: There is one obvious error in that article. Stiglitz refers to "the 1.65 million troops that have already been deployed." I'm fairly sure he got his decimal in the wrong place and it should be 165,000, which is almost exactly the number of troops that are currently in Iraq, unless Stiglitz is referring to some other value.
NEVER MIND, it appears that that value makes sense after all.
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2 comments:
Actually, I don't think that's an error. He's talking about the total number of soldiers who have participated in the Iraq war to date. 1.65 million individual soldiers having served in Iraq, with a force of about 150,000 to 300,000 being deployed there over 5 years, doesn't seem unreasonable.
40% of those needing disability compensation doesn't seem unreasonable either. It seems fucking infuriating.
By the way, if you think Afghanistan's going to be any different, you're dreaming. We're going to be paying for our adventure there for a generation. I hope the next few governments are up to the task -- it's going to get expensive.
I think you're right, Matt ... over 5 years, that might be the right number after all.
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