Vote with the Facts!

Voter Guide

We feel that there is no more urgent matter than to share these researched facts nationwide in order

to counter "the spin," register voters, and support them all the way to the polls.

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© 2004, Vote with the Facts & US Face to Face

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War Costs, Deaths, and Injuries

1) How much is it costing US tax payers to run the war with Iraq and Afghanistan per month?

$5.4 billion ($4.4 billion in Iraq, $1 billion in Afghanistan) per month.

Source: "Disparity in Iraq: Afghanistan War Costs Scrutinized," Bradley Graham, Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2003, p. A13, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23970-2003Nov10.html

2) How many US military deaths and injuries in the war and occupation of Iraq?

1102 US service members have died as of October 19, 2004 or 89% of military forces there. 896 deaths since Bush announcement to “Bring them on” on July 2, 2003.

Source: Source Iraq Coalition Casualty Count - http://icasualties.org/oif/

More than 900 US Soldiers have been killed since May 1, 2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush declared major combat over.  Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began in March, 2003, almost 16,000 wounded, injured or sick soldiers from the conflict have been evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany which handles between 30 and 55 a day from Iraq and Afghanistan alone.  About 160 U.S. soldiers from Iraq have had limbs amputated, and 200 have lost all or part of their sight from bomb blasts. About 1,400 U.S. soldiers have been treated exclusively for mental health problems caused by the trauma of war.

 

Source: U.S. casualties grim cost of Iraq war:  Human tragedies take toll on medics, Sandro Contento, Toronto Star, Sep. 26, 2004

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096150208191&call_pageid=968332188854&col=9683500607&tacodalogin=no

"Death, injury, illness toll at 10,000 for U.S. in Iraq," Roger Roy, Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 29, 2003, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001803475_senthome290.html

3)  How much has the war in Iraq cost taxpayers so far?  

The total spending allocated to Iraq is $141 billion.

Source: "The Cost of War for States and Selected Cities," National Priorities, http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Issues/Military/Iraq/CostOfWar.html

4) How many tons of depleted uranium have we left in Iraq violating the Geneva conventions, and what is the equivalent radiation in Nagasaki bombs?

"The Pentagon and United Nations estimate that US and British forces used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of armor-piercing shells made of depleted uranium during attacks in Iraq in March and April — far more than the estimated 375 tons used in the 1991 Gulf War."  This is the equivalent radiation of 250,000 Nagasaki bombs.

Source: "Use of depleted uranium weapons lingers as health concern," Larry Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Foreign Desk Editor, Aug. 4, 2003, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/133581_du04.html

"Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki bombs," Bob Nichols, Online Journal, July 13, 2004, http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/071304Nichols/071304nichols.html

 

5)  What are the health consequences of using depleted uranium in the first Gulf War?

 

Depleted uranium "can produce cancer in the lungs, bones, blood, or kidneys....Children are 10 to 20 times more sensitive to the effects of radiation than adults....pediatricians in the Iraqi town of Basra, for example, are reporting an increase of 6 to 12 times in the incidence of childhood leukemia and cancer." "The incidence of congenital malformations has doubled in the exposed populations in Iraq where these weapons were used."

 

Sources: "Medical Consequences of Attacking Iraq," Helen Caldicott, San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, Oct 2, 2002. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/10/ED44718.DTL

6) Do you know what depleted uranium is and what the main health and environmental effects of depleted uranium are?

Described as a "serious health threat" by the US Defense Nuclear Agency, DU is a particularly lethal toxin because it poses the double risk of chemical and radioactive poisoning. Former US army colonel Doug Rokke, who served in the Gulf War to advise on radioactive clean up, says almost every person in his 30-member team is now seriously ill because of DU, and three have died of lung cancer. Yet DU poisoning doesn’t stop there. In one military unit, 67% of children born to US Gulf veterans had severe illnesses or birth defects. And one Canadian study of a DU-affected site in Basra, Iraq showed cancer rates increase at seven times the normal amount after uranium weapons were used.

DU, the byproduct of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons or reactors, is used in armor-piercing shells and becomes deadly immediately after hitting a solid object. Once detonated, DU bursts into a burning spray of radioactive dust, spreading as far as 26 miles from its point of impact. With such a wide range of radiation, DU has disastrous consequences for the nearby land, water supply, civilian population, and affected soldiers.

Sources: "Q&A: Depleted uranium weapons," Alex Kirby, BBC Environment Correspondent, BBC News, World Edition, Jan. 4, 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1101447.stm

"Forum: Ask Alex Kirby," BBC News, Jan. 9, 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/forum/1106746.stm

7) What are the total estimated deaths of Iraqi civilians?

The Medact report, Continuing Collateral Damage, estimates that 22,000 to 55,000 people on all sides, including those in the military, have died in the war.

Source: "Iraqi’s ‘Health Will Suffer for Generations’," James Meikle, Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1083106,00.html

8)  How many US military deaths in the war and occupation of Afghanistan?

97 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan as of November 2003.

Source: "US deaths in Afghanistan," Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 27, 2003, http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1069936256100340.xml 

9) What are the total estimated deaths of Afghanistan civilians?

3,800 civilian deaths in Afghanistan as of December 2001.

Source: "Afghanistan’s Civilian Deaths Mount," BBC News, Jan. 3, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1740538.stm

10) According to Nuclear Posture Review, leaked to the press in January 2002, the US has targeted what countries for nuclear attack on hair trigger alert?

North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Russia and China.

Sources: Nuclear Posture Review, http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/dod/npr.htm

Los Angeles Times article at www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-arkinmar10.story

11) Open: Do you feel safer now than you did before we went to war with Iraq?

Please share this information face to face with as many others as possible based on as much commitment you can muster in yourself for your country, your fellow Americans and for the world.   For more referenced questions and answers please visit our website at:   www.votewiththefacts.org