h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
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Counters such as the one linked to below are a sobering reminder of the fact that real people are dying - undeniable, whatever your personal stance might be on this war.
What is also hard to argue is that some people are making money out of this war. Some like say, suppliers of military uniforms you'd
expect to be making money - I suspect there might be others which would be more surprising. In any case a counter showing the companies, governments, people and amounts involved would be interesting.
Iraq War Body Count
http://www.iraqbody...t.net/bodycount.htm
[hippo, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Ill winds of war blow good to oilwell fire company Halliburton
http://www.forbes.c...3/24/rtr916531.html
[my face your, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Bush seeks $74.7-billion for war, security
http://www.globeand...iness/International
"The administration will continue to press for a $726-billion tax cut, said Nick Smith, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist." [my face your, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Carlyle Group news story
http://www.guardian...1300,583869,00.html
[hippo, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Halliburton/B&C "Well Control Alliance"
http://www.hallibur.../oil_gas/sd1313.jsp
"Well Control Alliance"? If I was cynical and oversimplifying, I'd say that's what US-UK forces have formed. [my face your, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Iraqometer
http://www.iraqometer.com/
[hippo, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
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The Wall Street Journal says that the Kuwaitis are lining up for the opportunity to sell cell phones, TV, you name it, into a defeated Iraq. |
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If wars didn't kill people, we wouldn't have them, duh. |
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Wars don't kill people, people do. |
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I like this idea, provided there were two figures - money made and money spent. It'd be interesting to see a crude (and potentially misleading, admittedly) figure on whether war actually makes money, or whether it just shunts tax money into the pockets of certain people. The figure produced could be compared with the bodycount sites to produce yet more (emotive and misleading) information for anti-war/ anti-capitalist activists. [I'm sort of contraditing myself, I know. I don't want the figure so that I can bandy it about, decrying war and all that, I just think it'd be a nice fiction, an apparently objective absolute to which I can cling in the wee grey hours.] |
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That said, the formula adopted by the iraqbodycount site is fairly simple but the cause and effects of economics are never so clear cut (or comprehensively reported) so I suppose it'd be difficult to come up with anything more than a ballpark figure. |
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don't worry bliss, many people will benefit from this war, mostly shareholders in certain american corporations <cough>haliburton!<cough> |
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d, if you must know, i am just more than a little disappointed, although not surprised, that of that $75bn, $8bn will go to countries affected by the war, including $2.5 billion for relief and reconstruction of iraq. countries that would receive aid include jordan, israel, turkey, egypt, afghanistan, the philippines and Colombia. how afghanistan, the philippines and colombia are affected, i still haven't figured out. most of that $2.5bn for iraq will end up back in the states as profit american companies who will help rebuild iraq. the rest, $800mn, is for humanitarian assistance, and while not a small amount, is far less than what the u.n. estimates is required for the people of iraq. no money has been allocated to peace-keeping. |
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[Dimandja] - some clarification: I was careful not to say that weapons companies should be blamed for making and selling weapons during a war - as you said, that's how the system works. What I said was that to look at where the money goes might be interesting - particularly, for the cynically-minded, among those companies which politicians have strong ties to (for example those defence companies owned by the Carlyle Group, which employs the first pres. Bush - see link). |
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Difficult to draw a line under exactly what to include in the counter though hippo. Britain has only recently finished paying off it's war debts from WWII. Do you include all those who receive interest from War Bonds and other government borrowing, for example? |
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Fair point, [DrBob] - the further you take it, the more it becomes about the impact of war on an economy rather than "what's this war costing?". I don't really have any idea as to how far removed from the war it should be or even how to quantify that. |
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[my face your]: That Forbes story doesn't even mention Halliburton. Do they own Boots & Coots or have some other connection? (I'm not disputing that Halliburton will benefit greatly from the war since they provide a vast amount of logistical support to the US Army as well as selling oilfield machinery.) |
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Oh, neither it does. For the link, see link. |
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How bought following the money for the protest groups as well? |
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Two weeks before we thought we might go to war, a
texas company that puts out oil well fires saw its stock
rise from 30 cents a share to over five dollars. One week
into the war, the stock climbed to over twelve dollars.
The person who told me abouut that told me i would be
stupid not to invest. The thought makes me sick. |
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