By Erik Leaver February 9, 2006 Cindy Sheehan and Beverly Young's arrests at the State of the Union for wearing opposing "protest" T-shirts is the latest illustration of how the Iraq War is the nation's most provocative issue. The attack on free speech for both sides was in fact outrageous. But lost in the T-shirt battle is what really matters: President George W. Bush's failure to tell the nation about the true costs of the war. Any honest national discussion about the war must begin with the death of Sheehan's son Casey and the other 2,244 soldiers who have died because of this conflict. The number of soldiers killed boldly written on Sheehan's shirt was a shocking, in-your-face accounting of the State of the Union over the last three years. As horrific as they are, those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg of the human costs of this war. Along those soldiers are 16,584 soldiers wounded in combat, and upwards of 100,000 needing mental health services, just to start with. Bush didn't mention the human cost of war because in part gross mismanagement by the administration has inflated it. For example, both Bush and members of Congress have pledged to fix problems with body and vehicle armor year after year. But despite promises to fix the situation, the military recently reported that 80 percent of Marines killed by torso wounds could have lived if they had better body armor. That's hard to swallow, especially when one of the makers of body armor, CEO David H. Brooks of DHB Industries, received $87,500 in compensation for "foregone vacation," almost three times what an Army private makes in an entire year of combat. With complete disregard for rampant war profiteering, Brooks earned $70 million in 2004. Those veterans who return from Iraq are finding Washington's promises to care for them are violated with impunity. Last year, the Veterans Affairs Department suspended enrollment of 263,257 vets seeking health care. The VA underestimated the number of veterans needing care upon return from Iraq and Afghanistan by 300 percent, so qualified veterans were simply cut from the rolls. Maybe they thought no one would notice. In addition to the war's human costs, Bush overlooked the financial costs. Three days after the State of the Union address, budget officials announced another $70 billion will be requested. Such a large initiative should have been highlighted for all of the nation. With these funds, the U.S. will spend more than $320 billion in the Iraq War. As astonishing as this number is, it does not include many of the indirect and long-term costs. Adding in estimates for future Veterans Administration and ongoing health care costs along with the interest on the debt, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes recently estimated the long-term cost of the war at $1.3 trillion. Instead of calling for a plan to pay for the shared sacrifice needed to cover the war's costs, Bush urged Congress to make his tax cuts permanent. Surely the government could use these funds to offset the looming Social Security crisis he highlighted. Or the sorely needed reconstruction of those cities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina could be accelerated. The irony of the war's outrageous financial costs is that they hobble the very social and economic programs that keep this country strong. While Iraq staggers under the occupation-spurred violence, the war is exacting a huge toll at home. The costs of war might be worthwhile if there was indeed a "plan for victory." But squeezing the same lemon again and again isn't producing very good lemonade. The lack of leadership and vision coupled with the tremendous loss of life and staggering economic costs make the Iraq War one of the nation's greatest tragedies. Ignoring the real human and economic costs of the war, it was easy for Bush to use his State of the Union speech to vow to stay the course. But while Cindy Sheehan and her tell-the-truth shirt from the Capitol were quickly removed from public view, the reality of the war is not so easy to hide. Erik Leaver is a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and the policy outreach director for the Foreign Policy In Focus Project. He is the co-author of "The Iraq Quagmire: The Mounting Costs of War and the Case for Bringing Home the Troops." Online atwww.ips-dc.org/iraq/quagmire/

Not Replubicans..The illuminates (secret society) freemasonry group. This group of tyrrants are controlling the world. Which you probably heard of the bones and skulls freemasonry group that Bush senior and his son currently the President and believe or not many other Presidents back to George Washington are freemason that warship the devil. LEarn something that history books will not tell you. Most of history is based on true conspiracies hidden from people of the world. Learn more of what the we are dealing with here. Visit: truthstream.org for more details and facts

This article is a nice example of the 'incompetence dodge', not questioning the validity of the war itself but rather claiming that its being poorly managed. It also has some interesing factual inaccuracies.Also, the title you gave this post has nothing to do with the article. The nation shouldn't rely on a politician to tell the truth, and in this particular case Bush wouldn't have known the 'true costs'. This also ignores the issue of accountability of 'the nation' in believing the administration's assertions that the US would just roll through Iraq and be welcomed with roses and kisses. This sort of statement only serves to make the argument that the failure which the Iraq war has become is only a result of the Bush Administration's managment of the war, when a more accurate conclusion, in my opinion, should be that the 'liberal' doctrine of using the military for 'humanitarian intervention' is fundamentally flawed. [Thomas Bellew]: " Any honest national discussion about the war must begin with the death of Sheehan's son Casey and the other 2,244 soldiers who have died because of this conflict." This is just hackish. Sheehan's son is of no more or less significant than the others who have died and the name dropping just because his mother is an obnoxious cunt is pathetic. "That men will die in war is a matter of fact, who will die in war is a matter of coincidence". [Thomas Bellew]: "The number of soldiers killed boldly written on Sheehan's shirt was a shocking, in-your-face accounting of the State of the Union over the last three years." I fail to see how information which is somewhat regularly reported and available in a variety of places is 'shocking'. [Thomas Bellew]: "As horrific as they are, those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg of the human costs of this war. Along those soldiers are 16,584 soldiers wounded in combat, and upwards of 100,000 needing mental health services, just to start with. Bush didn't mention the human cost of war because in part gross mismanagement by the administration has inflated it. " There is no real way to establish a causal relationship here between percieved mismanagement and the number of casualties. In addition Bush probably didn't mention it because the State of the Union Address is typically a time for back patting and clapping, not for truth. [Thomas Bellew]: "For example, both Bush and members of Congress have pledged to fix problems with body and vehicle armor year after year. But despite promises to fix the situation, the military recently reported that 80 percent of Marines killed by torso wounds could have lived if they had better body armor." And I'm sure a number closer to 100 percent of them could have lived if we'd never invaded in the first place. Again, an example of attacking the managment rather than the idea. [Thomas Bellew]: "That's hard to swallow, especially when one of the makers of body armor, CEO David H. Brooks of DHB Industries, received $87,500 in compensation for "foregone vacation," almost three times what an Army private makes in an entire year of combat. With complete disregard for rampant war profiteering, Brooks earned $70 million in 2004.Those veterans who return from Iraq are finding Washington's promises to care for them are violated with impunity. Last year, the Veterans Affairs Department suspended enrollment of 263,257 vets seeking health care. The VA underestimated the number of veterans needing care upon return from Iraq and Afghanistan by 300 percent, so qualified veterans were simply cut from the rolls. Maybe they thought no one would notice." This is something of a distortion of the facts. Those vets denied were higher income vets with no "service related" injuries. [Thomas Bellew]: "Instead of calling for a plan to pay for the shared sacrifice needed to cover the war's costs, Bush urged Congress to make his tax cuts permanent. Surely the government could use these funds to offset the looming Social Security crisis he highlighted. Or the sorely needed reconstruction of those cities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina could be accelerated." What funds? Tax Revenue increased. You can't say that if those cuts hadn't been in place that wouldn't have happened anyway, but by the same token you can't logically say that revnues would have been higher either. [Thomas Bellew]: "The irony of the war's outrageous financial costs is that they hobble the very social and economic programs that keep this country strong. While Iraq staggers under the occupation-spurred violence, the war is exacting a huge toll at home." Well, that's true. [Thomas Bellew]: "The costs of war might be worthwhile if there was indeed a "plan for victory." Incompetance dodge again. Our actions in Iraq, be they 'cowardly' withdrawl or the opposite extreme of killing half the population in an attempt to win militarily will probably not have to great an effect on the future of Iraq. The course the country takes will be determined by the people of the country all we can really do is watch. [Thomas Bellew]: "The lack of leadership and vision coupled with the tremendous loss of life and staggering economic costs make the Iraq War one of the nation's greatest tragedies." ID again, also there have been far greater tragedies. [Thomas Bellew]: "Ignoring the real human and economic costs of the war, it was easy for Bush to use his State of the Union speech to vow to stay the course. But while Cindy Sheehan and her tell-the-truth shirt from the Capitol were quickly removed from public view, the reality of the war is not so easy to hide." The reality of the war doesn't need to be hidden when people don't bother to look for it.

You can not fight a non conventional force with a conventional one. Non conventional forces do not drive down the road waving their country's flags. This is why we will be in Iraq forever... -- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1700881,00.html Terrorism can never be erased with force...With force you create more terrorist... by Jennifer Only way to beat terrorist is to use terrorist tactics...set traps, snipers. No amount of conventional warfare will work... Traitors is DC. A traitor is one who betrays one's country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason. Bush has awakened us, the poor and middle class Americans...We are watching and waiting to cast our votes... The Constitution says "We the People" not "We the Special Interest Groups." Americans Vote!

Living in Hawaii where we have a lot of military I think it is real importent to support da troops. They are doing a job that most of us don't wnat. God Bless America.