This March marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion and declaration of war in Iraq. Coincidentally, this May, it will have been five years since President Bush declared, "Mission accomplished." But we remain in Iraq.
In those early days, the war was the topic of discussion on every broadcast and in every newspaper. Today, however, it seems as though we have put the war on the back burner to boil over and be forgotten.
Did you know: the Department of Defense has confirmed almost 4,000 U.S. deaths; 135 soldiers have died from self-inflicted wounds; and 28,770 Americans have been wounded?
The war also costs approximately $275 million a day. In October 2007, the administration requested another $45.9 billion for war-related spending for 2008. This request is on top of the $147 billion already requested by the Department of Defense, and $3.6 billion for other agencies, for one year. If approved by Congress, most of the money would be spent on Iraq. With that addition, spending for the war would amount to approximately $611 billion.
It is hard to imagine how much $611 billion can really buy. To illustrate, everyone in the U.S. could have 18 months of free gasoline. It could feed 2,121,527,777 children for a year through the Christian Children's Fund. It could pay for 29,164,677 Honda Accord Hybrids.
It makes me wonder: are we better off fighting this war or would it be better to save starving children and the environment? (By the way, if we had all of those hybrid cars, would we need to be in Iraq in the first place?)
In exit polls taken following the Iowa caucus, 35 percent of voters said the war in Iraq is the most important issue the country faces and 52 percent of voters said they voted for the candidate they believed could bring about needed change, according to msnbc.com.
Based on these numbers, it doesn't seem like the country has forgotten the war; they are just sick and tired of the way it is going.
Perhaps the future days and weeks of the election will provide renewed hope and possibly a new direction, and by March of 2009, we'll be discussing our troops coming home rather than celebrating another anniversary. t&c;
NATALIE MCDANIEL CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY.
