£125,000,000 a month. That’s how much the government says it is
spending on the Iraq conflict. Several defence experts argue that the real
figure is £250 million.
Hannah Sell
The amount the government admits it has spent so far would pay for 280
new schools or five new hospitals. But instead it is being used to send
troops to kill and be killed in a war for oil, profit and prestige.
And this money is not being used to alleviate poverty or to bring
democracy to ordinary Iraqis. In Iraq today only 50% of people have clean
water compared to 60% under Saddam. There is 50% unemployment and little
or no electricity in the major towns. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have
been killed under the occupation. Torture is a commonplace.
Over 900 ‘coalition’ soldiers have so far lost their lives occupying
Iraq and the death toll continues to mount daily.
Most people say that they want the troops to withdraw from Iraq. But
Tony Blair has no intention of doing so. On the contrary, he is intending
to increase the number of British troops from 9,000 to 12,000.
Three thousand extra troops would push the monthly cost up to £300
million. That means that the £3.8 billion that Gordon Brown has so far
allocated to be spent on Iraq will be nowhere near enough. On the basis of
current spending continuing the occupation will cost that much every year
that the troops remain.
And who knows how long that will be. Tony Blair is still trying to
maintain the fiction that Iraq will achieve ‘sovereignty’ on 30 June. But
most people have seen through this lie. As US Defence Secretary Colin
Powell blurted out "some of [Iraq’s] sovereignty will have to be given
back"! The truth will be an appointed ‘government’ with real power still
resting with the occupying forces.
