1. #1

    The Iraqi reconstruction was not, by far, the costliest thing in the Iraqi disaster

    When there is a thread about Trump upcoming quagmires, some people/posters suggest that the cost could very be well kept down by slashing down the costs of reconstruction.

    In Iraq (like, to be honest, most colonial-type conflicts) making an exact distinction between ''occupation'' and ''reconstruction'' is haphazard as the former require the later...but like in most of those conflicts, the mere necessity of paying ''the grocery bills'' (a French Canadian expression for ''the running expenses'', the day to day expenses) led to actually pretty paltry amounts for reconstruction-maybe 60 billions. Which was not spent very well.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-i...numbers-2014-6

    As for the Iraqi army, 25-26 billion for rebuilding it seems a HUGE expense considering the results...but as it was 26 billions for training 600 000 army and security forces over 10 years (with maybe twice that amount from the Iraqi government, who was not actually paying), the results were not that surprising (subcontracting the formation to PMC was a brilliant idea, too)

    https://www.juancole.com/2016/01/the...gon-style.html

    TLDR : the Iraqi reconstruction was a dismal failure of 75 billion, but it's worth wondering if there was vastly different possible outcome with such a sum (a widely quoted figure is that a US soldier cost in the US 100 000 per year and up to 800 000 deployed...it's not that surprising that motivation, training and the like are poor for the Iraqi military, whose budget for ten year and at least 600 000 perosnnel is markedly inferior to the expenses for the Canadian armed forces (60 000) for a single year...)

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    FTR, this is not a ''lulz American'' thing. Both in Indochina and Algeria, the war ended up costing so much for France that there was almost nothing left for reconstruction proper. It's a vicious circle : you need to have boots on the ground to control the area, but they cost so much that the reconstruction they are supposed to supervise is rather wonky

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    And to that there is the absolute and abject quagmire of subcontracting reconstruction to PMCs and various groups....

  2. #2
    The Unstoppable Force Puupi's Avatar
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    Should have annexed them and take all of the oil.
    Quote Originally Posted by derpkitteh View Post
    i've said i'd like to have one of those bad dragon dildos shaped like a horse, because the shape is nicer than human.
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    i was talking about horse cock again, told him to look at your sig.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Puupi View Post
    Should have annexed them and take all of the oil.
    Even with the oil at 400$, that would have been a net loss...And this is with the kind of setup Internet edgelords dream of (such as, presumably, Iraqi forced at gunpoint to work for no pay whatsoever under the supervision of US-born maniacs whose qualification is ''owning a gun'').
    Last edited by sarahtasher; 2017-04-29 at 10:12 PM.

  4. #4
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    none of this is still the worst part of the war.
    The worst part of the war is/was, Endgame?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by GoblinP View Post
    none of this is still the worst part of the war.
    The worst part of the war is/was, Endgame?
    For instance, just paying the pensions (NB : that the veterans desserve, it's not the matter) and medical assistance is a 500 billion dollars bill at the very least.

  6. #6
    The Undying Breccia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sarahtasher View Post
    When there is a thread about Trump upcoming quagmires, some people/posters suggest that the cost could very be well kept down by slashing down the costs of reconstruction.
    This would be very difficult to do if you're taking all the oil. Which Trump wants to do. He's said so multiple times.

  7. #7
    The Lightbringer fengosa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Breccia View Post
    This would be very difficult to do if you're taking all the oil. Which Trump wants to do. He's said so multiple times.
    Trump says a lot of stuff...like he was going to repeal and replace Obamacare on Day 1

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by GoblinP View Post
    none of this is still the worst part of the war.
    The worst part of the war is/was, Endgame?
    The worst part of the war? More than a decade after the war was started by the US on the grounds of fabricated facts this country is still under siege by terrorist organizations.

    The US should compensate each and every citizen of this country for their lost loved ones and for their daily hardships. The US created nothing but a nightmare for the people of this country. It is outrageous. It is ashaming. It's basically Afghanistan 2.0.

    They went in, they destabilzed the country and left only destruction in their wake.

  9. #9
    Brewmaster
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    false democracy installed in iraq, took over by corrupted faggots, and now iraq corruption is like 99.9%.

    iraq need purging, a non merciful one

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by fengosa View Post
    Trump says a lot of stuff...like he was going to repeal and replace Obamacare on Day 1
    Nobody is saying that he would actually come up with a sensible plan to actually extract the oil without wasting a bunch of money or causing a huge kerfuffle. It just speaks more to his mindset that the third world basically exists only to provide us with resources and that we can go in there and tear up their country and not only not feel any remorse or guilt over it, but actually feel entitled to steal their oil on our way out.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Teaon View Post
    false democracy installed in iraq, took over by corrupted faggots, and now iraq corruption is like 99.9%.

    iraq need purging, a non merciful one
    Ah, okay, killing 300 000 Iraqis for zero results was not enough. You need to kill MORE of them.

  12. #12
    Deleted
    You talk about it now as if with Obama there was no problem... Iraq war didn't happen yesterday you know?

    Didn't Obama 10x drone strikes to Pakistan? I remember his speech at the United Nations in 2013, Obama affirmed that “[they] have limited the use of drones” If we want to compare Bush and Obama's governments regarding attacks. More specifically, Obama’s government sent 323 (est. 2011) drone strikes to Pakistan, while Bush’s government sent 51.

    Honestly... what did you expect?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Puupi View Post
    Should have annexed them and take all of the oil.
    And their nuclear bombs
    Last edited by mmoc3b4b68ecda; 2017-04-30 at 12:28 PM.

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