50,000 Soldiers, 1 Million Pieces of Equipment, and $3 Trillion
A photographic tally of what America is really leaving behind in Iraq.
Untapped Oil Money
While Iraqi oil money hasn't helped Iraqis (or American taxpayers), other oil-exporting nations have profited from the situation, which has caused spikes in oil prices. Those nations include Saudia Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela, according to Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, co-author of The $3 Trillion War. "If you asked who were the countries that we would not want to help," he says, "many of them would be on the list that we have been helping."
A US soldier refuels helicopters on the flight line of a military base outside Baghdad.
US Army photo / Creative Commons
Start the Mother Jones Iraq slideshow here.
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Seven and a half years after the invasion of Iraq, the last American "combat brigade" picked up stakes and left the country in mid-August. Come September 1, Operation Iraqi Freedom will just be another campaign for the history books. In its place: Operation New Dawn. Time to break out the "Mission Accomplished" banner!
Not so fast. The United States is keeping nearly 50,000 troops in Iraq—the fewest since the war started in March 2003, but still enough to fill a stadium. What else are we leaving behind? It's more than just Humvees and huge bases. Here's a photographic tally of the human, financial, and political impacts being left in our wake in Iraq.
Not so fast. The United States is keeping nearly 50,000 troops in Iraq—the fewest since the war started in March 2003, but still enough to fill a stadium. What else are we leaving behind? It's more than just Humvees and huge bases. Here's a photographic tally of the human, financial, and political impacts being left in our wake in Iraq.
