[lbo-talk] Only 10 more years of bloodshed to go for Iraqis, then freedom

Dennis Redmond dredmond at efn.org
Mon Aug 23 23:42:52 PDT 2004



> WASHINGTON (AFP) - US army officials reportedly say it could take one to
> 10 years to crush the insurgency in Iraq , which has shown little sign
> of letting up in the two months since the transfer of sovereignty to an
> interim Iraqi government.

This is probably the Army's way of telling the oiligarchy to screw itself. The US and its satraps have taken an average of 68 deaths and 412 wounded per month since the beginning of this ghastly war. Iraqi casualties have been running at 750 deaths and probably 2,250 wounded per month. This means the total casualty rate of occupiers vs. insurgents is about 1 to 6 - quite remarkable, considering US superiority in technology and armament (by comparison, the equivalent figure for Vietnam was 1 to 20). Extrapolating into the future:

2 years: US 1,632 dead and 9,888 wounded; IR 9,000 dead and 27,000 wounded 5 years: US 4,080 dead and 24,720 wounded; IR 45,000 dead and 135,000 wounded 10 years: US 8,160 dead and 49,440 wounded; IR 90,000 dead and 270,000 wounded

Cost of war so far: $10 billion per month. This will add up to $240 billion for 2 years, $600 billion over 5 years, and $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

-- DRR



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