Tom Fudge: Five years ago today, you probably had your television tuned to one of those 24-hour news channels, watching the bombs rain down on Bagdad. It was the beginning of our invasion of, and war with, Iraq. Today, Saddam Hussein is dead. American troops are still in Iraq. The war has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis, and many thousands of Iraqis have fled the country. News stories and government accounts tell us that the financial toll of the war on the U.S.A. is between $500 billion and $600 billion.
During this hour of These Days , we talk about the war that most American now believe was a mistake and most Americans now believe is hurting our economy. But we're there, and there's little question that our withdrawal will have consequences, possibly negative ones.
Guest
- Gloria Penner , political correspondent and host of Editors Roundtable for KPBS. She also writes a weekly political blog for KPBS.org.