By Kevin Shah
Staff Writer

On March 20th, 2003 the U.S. entered Iraq to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction which were believed to be hidden by Saddam Hussein and his associates. Eighteen months later the death toll has reached 1,077 U.S. soldiers, 7532 soldiers have been wounded and over 139 billion dollars have been spent.
Iraqi Casualties
However, when compared to the number of Iraqi casualties, these numbers are miniscule. As many as 30,000 Iraqi soldiers have been killed and 90,000 have been wounded while 3,000 civilians have been killed and 23,000 have been wounded.
Struggle with civilian violence
More than 135 Peace Corps foreigners have been kidnapped and at least 26 have been executed in attempts by insurgents to drive out coalition forces. Some of their graphic decapitations are on the internet, clearly to hurt American morale.
Despite this ongoing struggle with rebellion, the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government plans to hold national elections in January. However, there are doubts that certain parts of the country will be stable enough to participate.
War afffects all Americans
The reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure seems destined to be a long, drawn-out process, costing every American taxpayer precious dollars. The money devoted to the war also depletes funds for essential government services such as education. This means that many more people, soldiers, Americans, and Iraqis, will have to suffer before the end is near.