The Iraq Summer Campaign

With the quagmire in Iraq being the focal point of discussion for most Democrats, discussion of the Iraq Summer Campaign merits its own post, separate of the 6th CD Garden Party.

Representatives from the Iraq Summer Campaign attended the Garden Party this past Saturday in Otsego and engaged many of us who walked the cozy confines of the Mick Raeker and Gabe Davis home.

Word on the street is that an event is coming together for Wednesday where some local Veterans will call for Senator Coleman and Congresswoman Bachmann to stand with the majority of Minnesotans and vote for a responsible redeployment.

I'll post a time and location when it is solidified! Feel free to add a comment with details if they come out before I get home tonight!

A look at some numbers behind the quagmire in Iraq.

$567 billion – Cost of the war through 2008, according to a June analysis by the Congressional Research Service, which exists to provide nonpartisan advice to lawmakers and congressional committees.

$350 billion-$700 billion — Estimated lifetime care for wounded and disabled veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study by Linda Blimes of Harvard University. The numbers vary depending on the duration of the war and the troop levels.

$100 billion — The potential additional costs through 2014 even if most combat troops come home next year. Retaining 30,000 troops per year — about a fifth of the current force level in Iraq — would cost about $21 billion a year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates. So, if troop levels were reduced to 30,000 by 2010 — the first full year after the next president takes office — it would cost about $100 billion to keep them there until 2014.

$22 billion — Economic value of lost lives.

Economists and government agencies value the earning and production potential of the average American male in his prime at roughly $6 million. Using that figure, the economic value of the 3,613 lives lost as of July 16 is $21.7 billion.

$390,000 — Estimated cost to deploy an American soldier to Iraq for a year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

3,636 killed as of today.

26,800 wounded, with estimates as high as 100,000.

With no end in sight...

More than 60% of Americans oppose this quagmire in Iraq. Polls also indicate that the people support Congress over the President with regards to Iraq, even though Congressional approval ratings are low. Other recent polls have shown Bush's approval rating below 30 percent and Congress even lower. But on the issue of Iraq, the Post/ABC poll showed that the public stands with Congress. Fifty-five percent said they trusted congressional Democrats on the war, compared with 32 percent who said they trusted Bush, the Post said.

Congresswoman Bachmann and Senator Coleman are simply wrong on the issue, and are moving down the same popularity road President Bush.