On May 1, 2003, President Bush gave a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, declaring “mission accomplished” in Iraq and announcing the end of major combat operations. In the five years that have followed, however, those words have rung hollow. The conflict in Iraq has continued, with devastating consequences for American troops and for the Iraqi people, while the economic and national security costs of staying the course behind the Administration’s flawed strategy have continued to escalate. More than 97 percent of U.S. troop casualties have occurred since President Bush stated the mission was “accomplished”, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, and hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, yet today we appear to be no closer to achieving victory in Iraq under the Bush Administration’s open-ended strategy.
|
Costs of the war in Iraq |
As of |
Today |
|
U.S. troops killed (Department of Defense, 4/30/08) |
139 |
4,058 |
|
U.S. troops wounded (Department of Defense, 4/30/08) |
545 |
29,911 |
|
U.S. troops in Iraq (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08) |
150,000 |
155,000 |
|
Cost of the war to U.S. taxpayers (Associated Press, 4/13/03; CRS, 4/11/08) |
$79 billion |
$526 billion |
|
Americans who believe the Iraq war was “worth fighting” (Washington Post-ABC Poll) |
70 percent |
34 percent |
|
Estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed (Christian Science Monitor, 5/22/03; Iraq Body Count, 4/30/08) |
5,000 – 10,000 |
83,221 – 90,782 |
|
Number of Iraqis who have fled their homes (UNHCR) |
N/A |
4.7 million |
|
Number of Iraqi security forces (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08) |
7,000-9,000 |
444,502 |
|
Iraqi prison population (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08) |
10,000 |
43,000 |
|
Number of daily attacks by insurgents and militias in Iraq (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 10/1/07; 4/24/08) |
N/A |
54.7 |
|
Number of multiple fatality bombings in Iraq (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08) |
0 |
1,714 |
|
Number of suicide attacks in Iraq (Washington Post, 4/18/08) |
0 |
920 |
|
Number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan (The Century Foundation, 6/10/05; U.N. 9/1/07; 3/6/08) |
1 |
> 300 |
|
Number of terrorist safe havens for al Qaeda’s central leadership on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan (National Intelligence Estimate, July 2007) |
0 |
1 |
|
Price of oil (U.S. Department of Energy) |
$26.03/barrel |
$115.63/barrel |