Self Analysis Post

When I started this blog I did not know much about this issue; I only knew the basic facts. I had some information on the topic just from watching the news; which mostly included The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. However, I was intrigued by this topic because I knew that I did not know as much about the topic as I should and it is an interesting issue. Before I started this blog I thought that too much money has been and is being spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the money could be spent on things to improve the country. However, as I started researching, my topic became more about the debate about how much the war is actually costing, and if we should continue to fight in the Middle East or not. As I have been researching for this topic I have also researched more about the other side. I started off thinking that it was a pretty obvious issue, that too much money is spent on war and not on trying to improve the country and economy. However, I began to realize that this is more than just money but it is also about making sure that we continue supporting our troops regardless of how we feel about government decisions. It is also about the different sides, and why some people want to continue to fight in the wars, and why others want to withdraw from the Middle East. And, while I have tried to remain unbiased by discussing both sides of the issue, I still agree with my original stance on the issue. I also learned a lot about this issue when I was working on my analysis post, because I had to discuss how the wars started and this helped me to understand how people on both sides of the issue feel and understand why they think that we should or should not continue fighting. Overall, I think that I learned so much about this issue and that I have explained both sides of the issue and my opinions well.

Cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Compared to previous wars

I read an article recently that I found interesting. It showed the amounts of money spent on previous wars that we have fought in and how the money spent is compared to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The article is called "Cost of War/The Big Picture". However, some people have commented saying that the charts are misleading. And, this is one a type of bias, showing graphs that are not drawn to scale or leaving out important data. But, the reason why I am discussing this article is because it does bring up some interesting points that I have read in other articles. For example, I have read other articles that say that (considering the price of inflation) the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing more than the Vietnam war. But, they still cost less than the amount that we spent on World War II. This means that as of now the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined are the second most expensive wars in history. Now, like I said some people have commented on the article saying that it is biased, partly because in War World II we were mostly building equipment for the war but we only fought in the last couple of years of the war. Furthermore, the article said that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not affecting our economy as much as other wars. But it said that World War II affected our economy the most, but it was beneficial because it created jobs and helped end the Great Depression. Now, I think that this article brings up some interesting ideas that I would like to research more, about how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan compare to other wars in the past. But, at the same time I am also pointing out that there is a lot of information on the internet and everyone has to be suspicious of the information they find to make sure it is credible and unbiased.

Links Post

There have been many articles that have helped me learn more about my issue. The ones that I found most useful are listed below:
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home This article has been helpful because it has been keeping track of the amount of money that we have been spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html This article has been useful because it provides another estimate of what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing. This is important because it is hard to calculate the total cost, and different sources have different estimates.
http://education-portal.com/articles/Iraq_War_Spending_vs._Education_Spending.html This article has been helpful because it demonstrates an example of how taxes are distributed in state budgets, and it reflects how the budgets are organized at different levels of government.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54400 This article helped me be less biased because I talk about how much money is spent on the war, but this article describes how President Obama spent almost as much on stimulus this year as Former President Bush spent on both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, it puts the amount spent on the war in perspective.
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm This article was helpful because it shows the federal budget as a pie chart and it shows the percent of the federal budget that is spent on military.
http://www.controversialforums.com/War-in-Iraq.php I found this article useful because it clearly defined some of the pros and cons of the war in Iraq.
 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WhosCounting/story?id=2844304&page=1 I found this article to be beneficial while writing my blog because it discusses the amount of money spent on the war and it talks about ways that we could have used the money.

Class Blogs

Legalizing Pot...a California Dilemmia...or Dream
I have been reading this blog because it is an interesting issue that I have not thought much about. It is informative and also funny at times.

Reforming Immigration Laws
I also enjoy reading this blog because I have been hearing about immigration in the news lately, but I have not had the opportunity to really learn the full story. I think this is an interesting subject and I also like the blog because I think it paints a clear picture of the issue and how it is affecting our country.

Mosque in Manhattan?
I have been reading this blog because everyone has been talking about this issue in the news lately. And it is loosely related to my topic because I have been discussing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were somewhat caused by the 9/11 attacks. And 9/11 was also the reason for the negative feelings against Muslims.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been very controversial issues since they started, because of the opposing sides. There are many people who think that it is a good thing that we are over in the Middle East spreading freedom and democracy, and just as many people who think that it is a waste of money and resources. The wars have been a very discussed topic of debate, but now that election season has started more and more people are focusing on the wars. According to one article “By far, war in Iraq tops list of issues concerning voters”, the war in Iraq one of the biggest issues that voters are looking at. I am bringing this up because I want to show why this is an important issue not just because of the money and lives that are spent, but because this could be a deciding factor in who is elected. I do think that people should consider this issue not only for election purposes, but also for the reasons that I have mentioned early in my blog. Such as, the large amount of money that is spent and the number of lives that have been sacrificed. According to the same article the war in Iraq has claimed 4,000 lives and it costs 2 million dollars a week. All the money that is spent on the war could be used on government programs that would benefit the economy and the country. According to the blog “Educational Justice”, the money that is spent on war could have been used to hire 13,291 public school teachers for a year. It could have also been used on other aspects of education like better schools, text books, or computers; along with countless other possibilities. There are so many ways we could be using the money spent on war, therefore, I think that instead of fighting we should bring the troops home and use the money on improving our country. 

Implications Post

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on for years and the only way to end the wars is to decide on when we should bring the troops home. However, if the government cannot agree on when to withdraw the troops, the wars will continue indefinitely. If the wars do not end, or if they do not end for a long time, then we will spend a ridiculous amount of money on war, when we could be using it to improve our country and economy. Our economy has already been negatively affected because it is estimated that hundreds of billions to one, two, or three trillion dollars has been spent on the war, which has added a large amount to the national debt. Therefore, if we can spend this much money after a few years of war, then can you imagine how much money we will spend and how far into debt we will go if we continue fighting these wars for another two, three, or ten years. And, this may not be imaginable, at this rate there is no real progress to ending the war. President Obama has been pushing back the deadline to start withdrawing troops, and at this point there is no end to the war in sight. And, not only will the economy suffer if we continue to spend so much money on war but, it will also affect other government programs. If more and more money is spent on war, then there will be less money available for education and healthcare. Another implication is that people may also be more apprehensive about getting involved in other foreign affairs in the future, which could be beneficial or detrimental depending on the situation. 

Political Cartoon

Theory Post

                The problem with the war right now, is there are some who do not want to continue fighting and others who want to stay in Iraq. The only real solution would be to compromise and decide on a definite deadline to start bringing troops home. But, before that can happen people need to discuss the war from an objective view point, and people either have to agree that the wars are worth continuing and there could be progress. Or, on the other side people have to agree that the wars are not making any progress and instead of helping anything we are just using money and resources that could be spent on other things. However, it is going to be difficult to agree because each side has a strong opinion. The other problem is the underlying assumptions that each side has. Some people that want to continue the war are worried about terrorists and another attack on U.S. soil. While the people that do not want to continue the war are focused on the amount of money we are spending and the fact that it is difficult to judge the progress in Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, because there is no way to judge the progress, some people do not think that any progress is being made. Furthermore, we have to leave the two countries eventually but, before we can do that everyone has to decide on a timeline to steadily draw troops out. President Obama did have a deadline for withdrawing most of the troops by August 2010, but the deadline has not been followed. And, now he says troops will remain until the end of 2011.

Analysis Post

In this blog post I am analyzing why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are controversial, and how they started. I am describing the events after the wars started to explain how they started and how the general public feels about the wars.

The war in Afghanistan officially started after the 9/11 attacks. The war in Iraq started after President Bush told the American people that Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction” and the American public was told that going to war would be the best and only option if we wanted to be safe. But, after we went to war, Americans found out that there were no weapons of mass destruction. However, some sources claim that President Bush did not know that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and he had to make a decision. While many people speculate that he may have known that there were none but wanted to justify going to war. But, either way not finding weapons of mass destruction, damaged Bush’s reputation because many people thought that he lied about the weapons to justify the war,or that he was at least stretching the truth. In an article by the Washington Post it was discussed that Iraq's oil was another reason why America might have gone to war with Iraq. Because, we are so dependent on oil it isn't stretch to think that securing oil was a major part of the reasons why we went to war.  However, in an article in the New York Times, Carl Rove, Bush's chief political advisor, said that the reason they decided to go to war was the threat of weapons of mass destruction and without that threat, Bush would not have decided to go to war. In an article in Wikipedia, it said that the majority of the public did not want to go to war but, once the war started, the majority of Americans supported the war. But the number started decreasing at the end of 2004. By that point many people were beginning to think that the war was a mistake. People were not happy with the way the war was going because there was not a lot of progress and many casualties. 

The war is a controversial issue because many people were upset that the only reason why we went to war was because of weapons of mass destruction, and then there were none. And, on the other side many people think that we should have gone to Iraq to help the oppressed people of Iraq. Now, there were some positive things to come from the war. We were able to help the Iraqi people to become freer, and we also helped to spread democracy to the people of Iraq. However, there were a lot of negatives to come from the war as well. There were many lives lost, not only American and allied troops, but also Iraqi civilians. There is also a large amount of debt that is adversely affecting the economy. There is also no exit strategy in place for when we do decide to leave Iraq. Now, some people do not want to leave Iraq because they do not Iraq to become even more chaotic, but it is difficult for us to make progress and it is hurting us more than it is helping Iraq. Now, we have done some good for Iraq, but I think it is time for us to leave and let them take charge of their own country. In an article in BBC News, it discusses how there is no exit strategy, but gradual withdraw would be a good plan to consider. And, there is still a lot of debate about when and how to leave, but I think it should be sooner rather than later. 

We have already used a lot of money and resources, that could have been spent on other things to help benefit America. The economy has been in a downward spiral for awhile now, but that is not surprising considering we have spent close to a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq. If you want to see the running count of money spent on Iraq and Afghanistan go to the national priorities project. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming more costly than the Vietnam war, and all the money spent on war could have been used for other things to improve our economy or the country. One article called Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes said that not only is the U.S. the top military spending, but we also spend more than the next top 15 countries combined, this includes not only the wars but all military expenses. But, it also demonstrates how the government thinks that military is more important than other government projects that could improve our country, such as education. We could have also used the money that is spent in Iraq on alternative energy, which would improve the economy and the environment. Now, I do think that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan used a lot of money that could have been used on improving American. But, there are a lot of ongoing debates right now about how much money President Obama has been spending. In an article on cnsnews.com, it discussed how Obama will spend a larger amount of money on welfare, than was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not to mention the amount of money he spent on the failed stimulus package. So the point I am trying to make is that there has been a lot of money spent on the war, but it has been spent over the span of years. And, I understand that President Bush had a tough decision that had to be made when he was deciding whether or not to go to war with Iraq. The point is that I understand why we went to war, and a trillion dollars has been spent over the course of years. But, it is still a large amount of money that could have been spent on other things. Now, while I think that we should leave Iraq because we have done about as much as we can. There are some people who do not want to leave Iraq because they think that soldiers will have died in vain, but others say that the longer we are there the more soldiers that will die unnecessarily. An article titled Iraq: A US effort that was in Vain? discusses if the war was worth it or not. I understand why Bush decided to go to war, but I think we have over stayed our welcome in Iraq. At this point there is not much more that can be accomplished and more soldiers will die and more money will be spent on a war that is going nowhere. Not to mention all the things that we could have used the money on to improve lives.

I know that I have discussed how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; especially in Iraq, are using a large amount of money and how that money would be better spent on other things like education and other programs. However, I want to discuss some sources of bias in the news about the war. First of all, I do think that the war is a lost cause and that the money spent on the war could be better used on other things. On the other hand, I think that there may be a different side to this story or at least some things that can be considered. First of all, I read an article titled, “Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war” where the author, Mark Tapscott, discussed the stimulus program and how it ended up costing more than the war in Iraq. And, he thinks that Democrats are leading the focus on the Iraq war because they want to prove that it is not just the Democrats that spend excessively. Now, I am not debating Obama’s stimulus package, but I will say that the stimulus didn’t really work and there was more money spent in a few months than the money spent on years of war. So, the war is not the only thing that the government is spending too much money on, but if everyone looked at the federal budget we could all find something that we would consider to be unnecessary spending. But, the war in Iraq has been going on for years and if we were to leave then we would have more money to spend in the U.S.

How the War is Adversely Affecting Our Economy

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are detrimental to the economy because the more money that is spent on war, the less money that can be spent on projects to improve our country. The money that is used on the war could be used to improve schools, build better roads, or a number of other projects. This would not only improve the country, but it would also improve the economy, because if more money was spent in the U.S. then we would be improving the economy while creating jobs. Now, the economy and the state of the union has its ups and downs and we cannot say that the war caused all of the problems in the country, but it is a significant factor. Also, speaking of the economy, the deficit has always been increasing, but the war has added a huge amount to the debt according to one article the war has added $1 trillion to the national deficit. While the war has increased the   deficit by a trillion, the overall estimate for all the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is somewhere between 1 and 2 trillion dollars. When the war started our economy was doing fine. Even after spending significant amounts of money our economy was not affected much at all. This was because there was money in the federal reserve that could be liquidated. But now the economy is starting to feel the affects of the amount of money that we have been spending on the wars.

Why We Should End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

We have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for years now, and while we have made progress, we cannot completely wipe out all terrorist activity. Now, I am not saying that we should surrender, but rather realize when we have done all we can. We have been fighting in Afghanistan for nine years and we have been fighting in Iraq for seven, and the only accomplishment is capturing and executing Saddam Hussein. If you can count that as an accomplishment; there was a line of terrorists to take his place before the rope was even tied around his neck. I also believe that leaving the war would not be the cause of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil; if terrorists do try to attack us again it will be because they hate America, not because we stopped fighting. And, terrorist attacks on international U.S. embassies have occurred since we have been in the war, so pulling out of the wars would not cause the situations to get worse. Therefore, it would be much more beneficial to the country if we stopped fighting and took the money we would save and use it on national security and other projects. I think more money spent on security would be more beneficial when it comes to preventing another terrorist attack, then being at war. As said in an article by the New York Times “Iraq $5,000 per Second?”, money that was spent on Iraq, was not spent on improving our economy. And, I think that improving our nation and our economy should be everyone’s priority.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/business/17leonhardt.html

What we are Spending on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

I am going to be debating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I am not discussing the reasons for fighting. What I am questioning is: are the wars worth the price we are paying? Obviously we are paying for the wars with the blood of American soldiers, but what I am talking about is the monetary cost of the wars. What I am suggesting is that the money that is spent on the wars could be better spent on other things to help improve the country. For instance; we could use the money spent on the wars to improve schools and better education or build infrastructure, which would create jobs and improve the economy. Now, I am not suggesting this because I do not support the troops, my dad was in the military for over two decades, and I do not want less money spent on the war if it means fewer supplies for the military personnel in the Middle East. What I am saying is that we are fighting a losing battle and it is time for the troops to come home. Then we could spend the money that would have gone towards the fighting on something that could improve American lives, and not take them. We have helped Iraq and Afghanistan by trying to help stabilize the countries, but there is not much more we can do. It is similar to the Vietnam War, it is difficult for us to tell who the enemy is and who our allies are, and we are not getting much accomplished. Of course I appreciate the sacrifice the soldiers make, therefore I think it is time to let them come back home.Then we can use the money that would be spent on war on projects to improve our country, which according to the first link since the wars started in 2001 we have spent over a trillion dollars in the Middle East.

www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home http://education-portal.com/articles/Iraq_War_Spending_vs._Education_Spending.html