Nine years ago today, based on false and misleading evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction possessed by Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the US and allied nations went to war in Iraq.
The effects for the American military have been massive:
4,408 killed in action
31,922 wounded in action
Several hundred or more have lost limbs or part of their skull, and at least one out of four soldiers serving in Iraq have had brain injuries and mental and emotional problems, better known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from their military service.
In the ongoing Afghanistan War, the number killed stands at 1,912, and wounded close to 10,000, with several hundred severely wounded.
So together in the past decade, about 6,300 American soldiers have been killed, and about 42,000 wounded, with close to 1,000 severely wounded, and again one out of four soldiers affected by PTSD, including Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who killed sixteen Afghan civilians last week, a tragedy for the victims, but also for him and his family, and for America.
These sobering statistics, separate from the loss of life of hundreds of thousands of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan, requires our serious consideration that it is time to say the War on Terror has been won overseas, with the death of three fourths of the Al Qaeda leadership, and the elimination last May of Osama Bin Laden.
It is time to come home, and to heal our veterans,. at any cost, rather than continue spending $100 billion a year or more in an area we cannot make democratic and western style. Out of Afghanistan as soon as possible is an urgency!