WAS IT WORTH IT?

With the ceremonial ending to the Iraq war this week after eight years, eight months and change, pundits have begun asking if the war was worth it. Well, lets look at both sides.

Contrarians would offer that it caused:

4,500 American military and hundreds of contractor deaths

Over a hundred thousand, maimed, injured and mentally broken American casualties

A trillion dollars spent, many billions of which simply vanished by the container load

An estimated two more trillion required to pay for hundreds of thousands of veterans' long term benefits

A domestic infrastructure and economy crumbling from neglect and lack of funds

Millions of dead, injured and displaced Iraqis

An epidemic of Iraqi birth defects thanks to gobs of depleted uranium weaponry residue

An Iraqi ally for our newest bogyman in the Middle East: Iran
America's reputation for peace and fairness around the world at its lowest point ever

War supporters would point out the following:

Defense contractors like Halliburton and private security firms like Blackwater got fabulously wealthy

America still has the biggest, badest military on the planet

We've established the principle that American leaders who start illegal wars will never be held accountable

It's a close call, but after careful consideration, the answer is.....NO.