Saturday, March 26, 2005

War in Iraq saves lives

Question: What is the purpose of a cost/benefit analysis?
Answer: To determine the true value of a good/service by properly identfying and valueing all of the costs and benefits.

Mohammed at IRAQ THE MODEL has written a compelling post that should place the "cost" of the Iraq war in proper perspective.

From the post:
Iraq is definitely better nowadays than it was under Saddam despite all the sacrifices we had to give in the last 24 months and even by considering the body count (that I hate to mention) I see that Operation Iraqi Freedom has preserved too many human lives that could've been lost to the injustice and brutality of Saddam. Like most Iraqis, I don't want Iraq to go back to the days of Saddam; nothing can match the freedom that we won. And let's not forget that most of the Iraqis who lost their lives in the last two years were victims of terrorism not the military operation itself.

Terrorism didn't come to Iraq after the fall of Saddam, only if one decides to consider that Saddam's doings are not terrorism: 5000 in Halabja in one day, 180 000 in Al-Anfal, 300 000 in the uprising in 1991, 70 000 from Al-Dawa party alone, many thousands of political opposition groups' members, thousands of people who refused to fight in Saddam's wars and were executed for no reason, amputation of limbs, tongues and ears, draining the marshes, depriving the people of all their basic rights and freedoms. The list can go forever.
Now for the equation.

    -1,500    American volunteer soldiers died
   555,000+   Lives estimated saved over the next 10 years
   =======
   553,500+

Positive benefit. Action recommended. (hat tip to Chrenkoff)

posted by VARepublicMan @ 5:35 PM