cost of iraq war

CHILCOT REPORT -UK Responsible for Illegal Iraq War

Posted on by Helena

Could Obama’s decision to VETO the Saudi Responsibility bill have something to do with the quashed Chilcot Report in which the UK’s M-16 was found to be grossly negligent in instigating a war in Iraq without cause?

The Chilcot Report took 7 years to complete and release! And we missed it… How did that happen?

Because timing is everything. The release coincided with Brexit and the media decided it wasn’t news, it was too old now and no one cared. The death toll from the Iraq War is guestimated at 500,000 to one million, which includes over 36,000 from the US.

“The document stated that Saddam Hussein did not pose an urgent threat to British interests, that intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction was presented with unwarranted certainty, that peaceful alternatives to war had not been exhausted, that the United Kingdom and United States had undermined the authority of the United Nations Security Council, that the process of identifying the legal basis was “far from satisfactory”, and that a war in 2003 was unnecessary.“

I would say that qualified as ‘NEWS’.

If the UK and the US collaborate on instigating a war with another country, and the UN finds there is ‘No Legal Basis’, that opens Pandora’s Box for all kinds of lawsuits. Which have already begun:

Families of UK soldiers killed have united in a class action against Tony Blair in a civil suit alleging he abused his power by knowingly advancing a war that had no legal basis. Damages for these wrongful deaths are considered ‘unlimited’. During Blair’s reign as Prime Minister, he managed to accumulate a staggering wealth of over 60million pounds – which today would equate to about $79 million. Not a bad take for Prime Minister…

A lawsuit in US courts that was previously denied may be reignited with additional plaintiffs as a result of the Report. The initial suit in 2013 was Saleh vs. Bush, a refugee mother of four brought the suit against Bush, Chenney, Rice and Powell. Obama dismissed the case claiming the defendants were acting within the ‘scope of their employment’. The employer would thus be the US Government which has sovereign immunity – the same immunity the Saudis claim in the bombing of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

The precedents would include; the Nuremberg Trials in which government officials were held accountable, Human Rights violations, and violation of International Law.

Had Obama allowed that immunity to be cut open with the Saudis the US and the UK would become satiated in lawsuits!

International Law states: After a conflict has ended, persons who have committed or ordered any breach of the laws of war, especially atrocities, may be held individually accountable for war crimes through process of law. Also, nations which signed the Geneva Conventions are required to search for, then try and punish, anyone who has committed or ordered certain “grave breaches” of the laws of war.

In addition, under the terms there are three principals; Military Necessity, Distinction and Proportionality.

Military Necessity means there must be clear and concise evidence of the need for military action.

Distinction means the combatants must wear clothing that identifies them.

Proportionality means that the resultant harm to civilians and property must not be excessive in relation to the military objective.

According to the Chilcot Report, the UK intelligence M-16 knowingly passed flawed evidence, Blair knowingly passed this same evidence to Bush and Bush knowingly pushed for war despite being warned that the evidence was faulty and inconclusive.

“The report found that in the run-up to the war, peaceful diplomatic options to avoid instability and WMD proliferation had not been exhausted, and that the war was therefore “not a last resort”. Intervention might have become necessary later, but in 2003,Saddam Hussein did not pose an immediate threat and the majority of the UN Security Council supported the continuation of UN weapons inspections and monitoring.“

So, while the Saudis will skate, the US and the UK may find themselves the brunt of international lawsuits. The US estimate of damages to Iraq as a result of the war are stated to be between $1 and $3 trillion. Nearly 2 million Iraqis fled and became refugees, 2.65 million were uprooted from their homes, and the economy lost 27 years of economic progress.

But hey – the media finds this all rather – boring news, I mean, like Hillary, “They’re already dead…”.

US Weapons? Going, going GONE -Sold to the Middle East

Posted on by Helena

The US had a record year for sales of weapons to foreign governments – so far totaling over $47 billion and going strong through the remainder of the year. The sales are 30% over last year and double that of 2013! Great – right?

But our own military just released a sobering report stating that we are running out of weapons and our military defense is spiraling… How will we fight ISIS if we don’t have any weapons left?

From gifting F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, to Apache helicopters and warships, to patriot missiles and Gatling guns, arms deals with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have contributed to a burgeoning arms industry still going strong. The Saudis have used these weapons to parade before Iran and to reduce Yemen to rubble. The US and media claim that Iran poses a significant threat to Saudi Arabia is well – rubbish.

But giving Iran nuclear power while arming Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait – is not rubbish. It is instigating an all out massive Middle East implosion.

And while the $47 billion price tag sounds like mega $$$$$ profits, our friendly US government subsidizes those sales from our coffers that are apparently empty of dollars to provide weapons for our own military! Of the $47 billion, we taxpayers footed about $11 billion or roughly 25% of the cost. Why? Because the Saudis don’t have enough money to pay the full tab and deserve a discount??

Just this month the Department of Defense authorized the sale of $70 million arms to Turkey. Why? Because Turkey blackmailed Germany, the EU and the US over the refugee crisis. And Turkey won $3 billion euro – to start – $70 subsidized arms, and EU membership status despite its deplorable human rights, its ongoing decimation of Kurds, and its downing of a Russian fighter jet using US made weapons. Add to that the recent reports of ISIS utilizing US made weapons and it would appear everyone has US weapons but – the US!

According to  General Welsh with the US Air Force, the US is “expending munitions faster than we can replenish them.” But how is that possible if we sell $47 billion with $11 billion US government subsidies? Obviously someone is making weapons because we keep selling them! Obviously someone is making money. Obviously the US military is on the short end of the stick in terms of priority. Even more odd is the fact that this General stated that replenishing stock could take up to four years…but we anticipate continuing sales to the Middle East to go on without a hitch!

I have a plan, let’s stop selling to the Middle East. Maybe then it would only take a few months or a year to ramp up our supplies. Or maybe we should just let the Middle East deal with the Middle East. There’s a novel idea.

The news of depletion comes at the point of depletion. Under normal circumstances wouldn’t the statement be made as we ‘approached’ depletion? Because now we may be phoning Russia with our buy order of their cache –  

How much is this little war costing the US?

Between August 2014 and June 2015, the US spent roughly $2.7 billion fighting in Syria, which amounts to $9 million per day. But that does not include what we have been spending on Iraq since 2003 – $187 million per day. That would amount to $71,540,000,000 per year. And what do we have to show for that?   Containment in Syria…nothing in Iraq, we’re still too busy helping Turkey kill the Kurds that we support.

So when we hear about the $500,000 gas station that should have cost $50,000, the $1 billion training program that trained no one in Syria, a Syrian ‘refugee’ plan that will cost the US $55 billion, $4.5 billion to help rebuild everything we destroyed in Syria, and lets not leave out – DYN Corp., a private military company that receives 96% of its funding from the feds amounting to over $3 billion, despite the fact that it has been indicted for fraud, corruption, tax evasion and sexual abuse of children (with no one being punished), I would venture to say that – spending needs a bullwhip!

Of course, all this spending comes as veterans get jacked by VA hospitals, their pay is cut, and their service is life. Who is running this show? Because it is most definitely not the people – as in We the People.