Tag Archives: Iraq

‘Costs of War’ Project: Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2013Politicsafghanistan, boston university, brown university, catherine lutz, costs of war, democratic governance, international studies, Iraq, iraq reconstruction, iraq refugee crisis, iraq war, iraqi women, neta c crawford, Pakistan, political science, president eisenhower, project, security, trillion, united nations, us invasion, us military, violence, war in iraq, watson institute

More than 190,000 people have been killed in the 10 years since the war in Iraq began. The war will cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion, including substantial costs for veterans care through 2053, far exceeding the initial government estimate of $50 to $60 billion, according to a new report by scholars with the “Costs of War” project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. The 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is March 19, 2013.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, researchers have released the first comprehensive analysis of direct and indirect human and economic costs of the war that followed. According to the report, the war has killed at least 190,000 people, including men and women in uniform, contractors, and civilians and will cost the United States $2.2 trillion — a figure that far exceeds the initial 2002 estimates by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget of $50 to $60 billion. (more…)

Istanbul Panel Offers Multiple Perspectives on Middle East-West Issues

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2013Politicsafghanistan, arab spring, bogazici university, british army officer, conflict in syria, defense, deniz tanyolac, diplomacy, emma sky, field army, global affairs, graeme lamb, hakan yilmaz, Iraq, islam, issues, istanbul panel, jackson institute, Jerusalem, jim levinsohn, marmara group foundation, middle east, Pakistan, ryan crocker, tendency in west, tusiad, uk government, US, us ambassador, uskudar american college, west, yale

“There is a tendency in the West to stay ignorant to what Islam stands for,” noted Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador who is currently senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, speaking at a panel held in Istanbul on Feb. 21.

The panel, which focused on issues that impact the West’s interests in the Middle East, was held in cooperation with Boğaziçi University–TÜSİAD Foreign Policy Forum. Crocker — who served in many countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan — was one of three senior fellows from the Jackson Institute to share their insights with the assembled guests. (more…)

NASA Satellites Find Freshwater Losses in Middle East

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2013Scienceamount of water, austin, basin, data, dead sea, drought, euphrates river, geosciences, german aerospace center, german research center, goddard, grace data, greenbelt, ground based data, hydrologic observations, hydrological modeling, international laws, iran, Iraq, irvine, jay famiglietti, lost freshwater reserves, matt rodell, middle east region, nasa satellites, pumping of groundwater, satellite data, space flight center, stakeholders, syria, tigris, turkey, underground reservoirs, united states, university of california, university of texas, water management

PASADENA, Calif. – A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites finds that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade.

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., found during a seven-year period beginning in 2003 that parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of total stored freshwater. That is almost the amount of water in the Dead Sea. The researchers attribute about 60 percent of the loss to pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs. (more…)

Syria Policy Warning over Weapons of Mass Destruction Risk

By Guest PostDecember 26, 2012Politicsafghanistan, alternative path, andrew rathmell, anti assad coalition, bitter insurgency, catastrophic, catastrophic success, conflict, east timor, gareth stansfield, insurgent threat, intervention, Iraq, iraq veteran, jonathan githens mazer, kosovo, libya, mass destruction, middle eastern, military action, nato, northern ireland, paradox, post assad society, regime, risk, scholar, sierra leone, syria policy warning, syrian security forces, university of exeter, us disengagement, weapons, western strategic messages, worst option. sir paul newton

Policy-makers have been warned that premature military action in Syria could lead to uncontrolled access to weapons of mass destruction and a prolonged, bitter insurgency following any intervention that resulted in the sudden collapse of the Syrian security forces.

Despite the desire to prevent further bloodshed, taking direct action to try to end the conflict could be the “worst option” and could only serve to further destabilise the situation in the volatile country.

General (Retd) Professor Sir Paul Newton co-wrote the report alongside distinguished Middle Eastern scholars at the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute, of which he is Director. He said: “Although it may appear attractive in the short-term, the one scenario that must be avoided is sudden, uncontrolled state collapse. This may seem like a paradox given the pressing need to end humanitarian suffering and the risk of the conflict spreading. However, it could be catastrophic. If unmanaged disintegration of the Syrian state were to occur, access to weapons of mass destruction would be uncontrolled.” (more…)

‘Disposable Heroes’

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2012Politicsafghanistan, african american soldiers, african american veterans, alford a young, army veteran, Baltimore, benjamin fleury steiner, betrayal, black veterans, crime, disposable heroes, gi bill benefits, homeless veterans, independence house, Iraq, martin luther king, military service, national guardsman, neglect, operation desert storm, poverty, sacrifice, saudi arabia, scud missiles, soldiers, streets of wilmington, trauma of war, university of delaware, Vietnam, war, war on drugs

UD sociologist writes book about ‘betrayal’ of African American veterans

For the University of Delaware’s Benjamin Fleury-Steiner, research for his new book Disposable Heroes: The Betrayal of African American Veterans was uncomfortable and disquieting.

An associate professor of sociology, Fleury-Steiner spent months interviewing black veterans of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan in the back streets of Wilmington, Del., to learn more about their service to their country and their experiences upon returning home.

The topic had long been on Fleury-Steiner’s mind, himself an Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm who had ducked Scud missiles in Saudi Arabia. (more…)

PTSD Consortium

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2012Healthadult, afghanistan, americans, bad experience, behavior, behavioral epigenetic, brain, brain imaging, cambridge, car accident, cardiovascular disease, chemical change, combat troops, david diamond, delaware, diagnose, disorder, DNA, dna methylation, draper laboratory, gene, hormone level, Iraq, military, molecular change, molecular modification, objective biomarker, panic attack, posttraumatic, ptsd, rate, rodent model, south florida, stress, stress disorder, tania roth, trauma, university, victim, violent crime, war

Researchers seek better ways to diagnose, treat disorder

Tania Roth studies what happens to the brain when stress occurs early in life, seeking to pinpoint how those kinds of bad experiences can cause molecular changes to DNA.

Now, by participating in a national consortium of researchers, the assistant professor of psychology at the University of Delaware is hoping to use her expertise to contribute to a better understanding of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (more…)

September 11 and The Cost of War

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2012Politicsafghanistan, attack, brown university, catherine lutz, combat, conflict, connecticut, cost, death, democracy, domestic, environmental degradation, ethnicity, federal government, fiscal year, human lives. economic term, human right, international, international studies, Iraq, oregon, Pakistan, pentagon, september 11, united states, US, violation, war, war project, watson institute, yemen

The Costs of War project is assessing the total cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. Findings thus far put the cost at more than 300,000 lives and $4 trillion. The project’s findings are continually updated. (more…)

National Deficit Outlook Unchanged Under Obama: UMD Policy Analysis

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2012Economy, Politicsaccumulation, afghanistan, alternative, budget control act, bush era tax, cbo, congress, congressional budget office, debt, deficit, democrats, election policy, fact check, finance, fiscal cliff, fiscal scenario, gdp, george bush, Iraq, key, national debt, philip joyce, policy issue, President Obama, presidential campaign, public policy, republican, social security, university of maryland, war, wealthy american

Public Policy’s Philip Joyce Offers Election Policy Fact Check

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – From a public policy point of view, the national debt accumulation since President Obama took office is largely a result of policies put in place prior to his inauguration, says a new analysis by University of Maryland expert Philip Joyce. He adds that Obama’s policies will make little impact in the debt over the next decade.

“The best that can be said about presidential fiscal policies thus far is that they would slow the bleeding, but they neither would stop it nor would they do much to heal the patient,” Joyce says.

The size of the debt has been one of the biggest issues of the presidential campaign, with Republicans arguing that the President has allowed the debt to rise out of control and Obama saying that he inherited the policies that led to an increase in debt and deficits. (more…)