Dear Editor,

Over the past nine years, the US invasion and occupation has left a bloody toll on Iraqi civilians and foreign troops. Nearly 4,500 US troops died, and another 32,000 were wounded. An accurate toll of Iraqis killed may never be known. Iraq Body Count says at least 104,000 Iraqi civilians have died, while some studies have put the death toll at over one million.

After 20 years of war and sanctions, Iraq's infrastructure has been devastated. Hundreds of thousands of more Iraqis died due to the crippling sanctions in the years between the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 US invasion. But the UN estimates 3.5 million Iraqis are still displaced from their homes, and again, many widowed, many orphaned, and environmental damage that is yet to be assessed.

Imagine what Iraq could have done with all those billions of dollars which were spent on destroying it. Imagine the food it could have bought, the water treatment plants it could have built, the medicine it could have purchased to help heal its sick and suffering.

One reason US politicians are often so reluctant to turn down a war, even though they may protest otherwise, is that it's good for their constituencies and the big businesses that support them and donate to their campaigns. It's incredible that the governments of the world are on track to invest nearly a trillion dollars a year in killing people. War is such a waste!

Ted Rudow III, MA

Encina Ave

Palo Alto, California

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