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Mission Accomplished: Five Years On
April 30, 2008
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.
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Costs of the war in Iraq
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As of
May 1, 2003
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Today
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U.S.
troops killed (Department of
Defense, 4/30/08)
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139
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4,058
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U.S.
troops wounded (Department of
Defense, 4/30/08)
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545
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29,911
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U.S.
troops in Iraq (Brookings
Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08)
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150,000
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155,000
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Cost
of the war to U.S. taxpayers (Associated
Press, 4/13/03;
CRS, 4/11/08)
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$79
billion
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$526
billion
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Americans
who believe the Iraq war was "worth fighting" (Washington
Post-ABC Poll)
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70
percent
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34
percent
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Estimated
number of Iraqi civilians
killed
(Christian Science Monitor, 5/22/03; Iraq
Body Count, 4/30/08)
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5,000
- 10,000
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83,221
- 90,782
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Number
of Iraqis who have fled their homes (UNHCR)
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N/A
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4.7
million
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Number
of Iraqi security forces (Brookings
Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08)
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7,000-9,000
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444,502
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Iraqi
prison population (Brookings
Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08)
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10,000
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43,000
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Number
of daily attacks by insurgents and militias in Iraq (Brookings
Institution, Iraq Index, 10/1/07; 4/24/08)
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N/A
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54.7
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Number
of multiple fatality bombings in Iraq (Brookings Institution, Iraq Index, 4/24/08)
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0
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1,714
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Number
of suicide attacks in Iraq (Washington
Post, 4/18/08)
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0
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920
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Number
of suicide attacks in Afghanistan (The Century Foundation, 6/10/05; U.N. 9/1/07;
3/6/08)
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1
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>
300
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Number
of terrorist safe havens for al Qaeda's central leadership on the border of
Afghanistan and Pakistan (National
Intelligence Estimate, July 2007)
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0
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1
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Price
of oil (U.S. Department
of Energy)
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$26.03/barrel
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$115.63/barrel
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