Iraq
Iraq and Afghanistan war costs resources
Before the U.S. invasion in 2003, warnings about an insurgency developing in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's regime fell were ignored by the Bush administration. Lacking training in counterinsurgency operations, U.S. armed forces initially used aggressive offensive tactics employing heavy firepower and ignored the two fundamental principles of counterinsurgency operations: create a secure environment for the civilian population and isolate the insurgents.
This initial lack of planning and strategy, along with an insufficient number of U.S. troops, stoked the insurgency. Tens, and possibly hundreds, of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties have resulted, which in turn has produced an irreversible backlash of enmity and revenge toward U.S. troops from the families, friends, and other tribal members of the Iraqi dead and wounded.
While the long-term military effects of the "surge" remain uncertain, the Iraqi Parliament's inability to negotiate the political compromises necessary to stabilize the government casts a pall over any long-term prospects for success.
FY2009 DEFENSE BUDGET ANALYSIS
Sep 25, 2008 Analysis of FY2009 Defense Appropriations in the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act (CR) for FY2009
Sep 24, 2008 Analysis of House-Senate Agreement on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S.3001)
Feb 4, 2008 The FY 2009 Pentagon (DOD) Defense Budget Spending Request
ARTICLES & FACT SHEETS
Nov 24, 2008 How Comfortable is the U.S.-Iraq SOFA?
Nov 19, 2008 New Systems Boost Iraqi Surveillance Capability
Jun 25, 2008 GAO Says Bush Administration is Overstating Gains in Iraq
Apr 9, 2008 Key Themes and Highlights from April 2008 Petraeus-Crocker Hearings
Mar 5, 2008 Problems with Using the Supplemental Budget Process to Fund Ongoing Military Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
ADDITIONAL READING
- Congressional Research Service, "Congressional Oversight and Related Issues Concerning the Prospective Security Agreement Between the United States and Iraq," updated April 1, 2008.
- Congressional Research Service, "Congressional Authority to Limit U.S. Military Operations in Iraq," updated February 27, 2008.
- Peter Galbraith, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
- Congressional Research Service, “Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security," updated August 12, 2008.
- Congressional Research Service, "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," updated July 14, 2008.


