Past Actions: 2006 Citizens' Tool Kit on Iraq: Fact Sheet
Keep the Facts in Mind

Costs of the Iraq War: Growing Insurgency and Sectarian Violence:
  • Terrorist attacks have increased exponentially. The number of reported terrorist attacks has increased exponentially in the three years since the United States invaded Iraq. Since 2003, the number of terrorist attacks increased by over 5,000%, with a 2,000% increase in the number of deaths. There were 11,111 terrorists attack that caused 14,602 deaths in 2005, compared to 208 terrorist attacks that caused 625 deaths in 2003.
  • Insurgency continues to grow. Despite more than 200 operations to defeat Iraq's insurgents and terrorist organizations during the last three years, the Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters have only, and the violence increased:
    Four-fold growth on insurgency since 2003. The estimate size of the insurgency grew from 5,000 to more than 20,000, with no signs of Iraq's insurgency decreasing.
    Foreign terrorists and fighters remain in Iraq. The number of foreign terrorists and fighters increased substantially from 2003 to 2006. The estimated number of foreign fighters grew from 300-500 in early 2004 and 800-2000 in June 2006.
  • Pentagon report finds that Sunni Muslims overwhelmingly support the insurgency. A confidential Pentagon assessment found that 75% of Iraq's Sunni Muslims support insurgency efforts - an increase of over 60% from polling of Iraqi public opinion in 2003.
  • Iraqi civilian death toll rises to more than 100 per day. The United Nations reports that during the month of June an average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq. As a result of growing sectarian violence, civilian deaths jumped from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June.
  • A majority of Iraqis favor immediate U.S. pullout. Several public opinion polls released in September indicate a strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw, saying their pullout would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence. According to a poll conducted by the State Department, nearly three-quarters of residents believe that they would be safer is the U.S. and foreign forces left Iraq, with 65 percent favoring an immediate pullout.
 Corruption:
  • Iraq is losing $4 billion a year to corruption. "Corruption in Iraq is endemic. We call it a pandemic," said Stuart Bowen, special inspector general to Iraq, before a Senate committee in August. According to a poll conducted by the inspector general, one-third of Iraqis said they had to pay bribes to get basic services.
  • Inspector general audit find $300 million taxpayer dollars spent on "suspect" reconstruction projects. U.S. investigators have identified more than $300 million that have been spent on questionable reconstruction projects. Currently, 82 investigations of American government officials and contractors working in Iraq are now underway.
  • One-tenth of Halliburton's expenses in Iraq considered "questionable." Military contractor Halliburton has been awarded $10.8 billion in contracts and $1.4 billion of Halliburton expenditures in Iraq are considered "questionable" and "unsupported" by Senate investigators.
  • Overhead Costs for Idle Contractors Add Millions to Iraq Rebuilding. According to a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, overhead costs for contractors in Iraq have consumed 20 to 55 percent of the reconstruction budget, leaving far less money available to provide the oil, water and electricity to the Iraqi people. The actual costs, however, could be even higher than these estimates because the U.S. government has only tracked $1.3 billion of the total $18.4 billion set aside for Iraq reconstruction.
 Homeland Insecurity:
  • American intelligence agencies found that the war in Iraq has fueled global terrorism and has helped spawn a "new generation of Islamic radicalism." A National Intelligence Estimate report, representing a consensus view of 16 intelligence services within the U.S. government, found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since September 11th attacks. The report titled "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," is the first formal and comprehensive assessment of global terrorism by the intelligence agencies since the beginning of the Iraq war.
  • The bipartisan 9/11 Commission gave the administration and Congress failing grades in homeland security. In the 9/11 Commission's final report, the federal government received failing grades. "The Bush administration and Congress have balked at enacting numerous reforms that could save American lives and prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil." The report card included 12 D's, 5 F's and two "incompletes."
  • Iraq war has contributed to a decline in the quantity of Army recruits, forcing the Pentagon to extend tours of U.S. soldiers currently in Iraq. The U.S. Army fell short of its recruitment goals by more than 6,000 recruits. With an upsurge of sectarian violence, the Bush administration announced in the July that it would extend the tours of 4,000 U.S. soldiers.
  • National Guard is incapacitated because of the war and lack of funding. Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, testified before Congress in August that more than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's brigades are not combat-ready primarily because of a $21 billion shortfall in equipment - most of it lost in the war. According to the Associated Press, "The budget won't allow the military to complete the personnel training and equipment repairs and replacement that must be done when units return home after deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan. 'I am further behind or in an even more dire situation than the active Army, but we both have the same symptoms, I just have a higher fever.' Blum said."
  • Growing instability in Afghanistan. The situation in Afghanistan witnessed a serious deterioration in the first six months of 2006 with a resurgence of attacks by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Violence in Afghanistan has been at its worse since 2001, and NATO says that diverted attention and resources to the war in Iraq created a security vacuum in Afghanistan, the source of 9/11 terrorist attacks.
 Falling Credibility in the World:
  • Iraq is number one reason for America's lose of credibility in world. America's credibility in the world and global support for the war on terrorism has steadily and quickly fallen, even among our allies, since our invasion of Iraq. Our presence in Iraq is cited as the number one reason.
  • Iraq has undermined the diplomatic credibility of the United States. Analysts and officials now say that the deteriorating situation in Iraq has undermined U.S. diplomatic credibility and limited the administration's military options, making rogue countries - like Iran and North Korea - increasingly confident that they can act without serious consequences.
 Lack of a Clear Plan:
  • Government agency finds the administration's National Strategy for Victory lacking a clear plan. The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently found that the Bush Administration's "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" lacks a clear plan for implementing their strategy in Iraq and does not fully outline the current and future costs of executing it.
  • Majority of U.S. troops support withdrawal. Over 72% of U.S. soldiers in Iraq believe that they've done all they can militarily and that our troops should leave Iraq within a year, and more than one in four say troops should leave immediately.
  • Majority of Iraqis support a timetable for withdrawal. Asked what they would like the Iraqi government to ask the U.S.-led forces to do, 70% of Iraqis (83% Sunni, 71% Shia) favor setting a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.




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