Dear Warmongers

via Newser:

A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets

As the U.S. draws down in Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in American taxpayer funds has been wasted _ more than 10 percent of the some $50 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.

That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. And it does not take into account security costs, which have run almost 17 percent for some projects.

It's one thing to propose a controversial plan, have the plan not work, and then admit that the plan was a failure and did more collateral damage than you though. It's a completely different thing to propose a controversial plan, have it fail, then deny the problem and try to keep going the same way. Therein lies your plight, oh ye in support of the military proceedings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that the last of the troops are being withdrawn from Iraq, it is quite evident that a hell of a lot of money has been wasted since we started this war, and that most of it has gone into structures with no infrastructure behind them. In war you guys decided rather than focus on combat, to build hospitals, schools and public works projects. Over $5 billion worth of materials, manpower and planning went into projects that weren't even finished.

My real problem with this egregious waste is that the same people who were clamoring for war and revenge on terrorism (how can you plot revenge on an idea?) are the same people getting salty at the government for too much spending. Hey idiots, the last time I checked our country still has some serious infrastructure and administrative problems too. Not to mention, we're STILL up to our nostrils in debt from a financial collapse that your irresponsible war spending caused. Warmongers, you can't have it both ways. You can't waste our money abroad on a war that really had no point and then get mad that we're in a huge recession. And that's especially when you guys want to curb spending on the homefront. So you can do what? Start another war? Look, the whole 'war driving the economy' got played out after World War II and after we started outsourcing all of our industries. So if it's not driving our economy, but in fact sucking money out of our wallets, with few if any viable victories, why are we still at war? I'm not saying that the initiatives in place were bad ideas. I just think that for all of the hoopla about the war, there's finally substantive proof that the US initiative in Iraq was more or less the military running around the desert with their thumbs up their butts. Warmongers, it's not enough to have a good idea for something. You've got to be able to see it through, while being efficient and realistic. You can't half-ass something and be content with the drastic losses you incur simply because you don't want to be wrong. That's flawed reasoning at it's core. I'm not sure most of you will even have the wherewithal to see this report and realize your folly. Then again, most of you don't see a lot of stuff coming. *starts building nuclear fallout shelter for imminent war with China*

Dear Pentagon

PROLOGUE (if you can call it that): Before you get into the letter, make sure to check out 'The War Logs', a series of previously-classified military documents outlining many inconsistencies in what the government has told us, and what is really going on in Afghanistan and Iraq. - via The New York Times

Wait, wait, wait, wait.... Let me get this straight. We've been at war in Afghanistan for almost 10 years now, fighting off not only Al-Quaeda and the Taliban, thinking that the $1 billion in aid we sent to Pakistan was to help us against militants. Now, we find out that the Pakistani government has been underhandedly helping out those same insurgents we were trying to fight??? C'mon son... Something about this war has seemed fishier than Neffe's nether regions. I've thought that since 2001, and the leaks from Wikileaks proved my suspicions right.

Pentagon, can you FINALLY admit, that this 'War on Terrorism' isn't working?

SIDENOTE: Anyone notice that when America goes to war against something that isn't a specific country or entity of countries, it doesn't work?? (see: war on drugs, war on terrorism, Prohibition)

Since 2001, after the September 11th attacks, over $3 TRILLION have been spent on defense and military intelligence, operations and planning. That's right: over $3,000,000,000,000 for these specific purposes (if my knowledge and research is correct):

1) To find weapons of mass destruction.
2) To find Osama bin Laden, his weapons of mass destruction, and figure out his role in 9/11.
3) To completely destroy the infrastructure and governments of Afghanistan and Iraq under the facade of democracy building, while embarking on a monumental oil rush.
4) To finish George H.W. Bush's beef with Saddam Hussein.

Okay, so 3 and 4 get scratched because that's not what 'good' Americans do, and because a federal agent would snipe me in my apartment window otherwise. Pentagon, what does that leave as our goals from this decade-long endeavor? To find WMD's and Osama bin Laden. Hmmmmm... The last time I checked, we still haven't found as much as a tommy-gun we didn't know about in Afghanistan or Iraq. In fact, most of the weapons in those countries, we brought in. Also, the last I checked, bin Laden was still shacked up, chilling, in some region we don't know exists. The last guy who got close to him wasn't even with you guys, and you arrested him! What do those facts, along with the recent unearthing of these 'secret' military reports tell me, Pentagon? They tell me that the administrative systems in place to regulate our military spending SUCK. They tell me that military spending in general is too great compared to the returns. They tell me that our troops are over in the Middle East fighting for things that might not exist, and to find people who can't be found. They tell me that George Dubya had his head up his ass when he was planning this with his people. But most of all, they show ridiculous inefficiency and huge divides in our military systems, including the Armed Forces and CIA.

Why is it that our military was so naive entering this war? I mean, did you really think you'd be able to simply storm these countries, take down their leaders, convince their people that your way was best, convert them to democracy, and then everything be peachy? I can tell you one thing: no country is going to embrace your ideals, much less if you're killing civilians and causing complete social upheaval. You're like the dumb bear who smacks up the beehive hoping to get honey, not realizing those bees aren't just going to fall asleep and let you get your fill, Winnie. This isn't the playground, where you can pick on the little guy and not expect repercussions on your side. This is war... and a severely underestimated one, at that. That we're finding out about so many inaccuracies on your side isn't as much a surprise as the biggest one: the whole Pakistani spies aiding insurgents thing. That's just sad... $9 billion worth of sadness. And to think, we've been in a recession this whole time. So much for war profiteering helping the nation stabilize. Word to the Great Depression and World War II...