Iraq war threatens the U.S. economy

A U.S. marine of the 3/5 Lima company walks through damaged house in Falluj Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize, who first uncovered Abu Ghraib scandal, said that the U.S. President George W. Bush's persistence to carry on with Iraq war will surely result in plunging his country’s economy into downturn as the European allies have started to distance themselves gradually from the war with boycotts of American markets. "I just see very hard times ahead," Seymour Hersh, who first revealed the abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib prison scandal in The New Yorker magazine, said in a keynote address to not less than 100 people attending the Military Reporters and Editors conference. Hersh won the Pulitzer in 1969 for international reporting. He got the world’s attention for the second time last summer, when he uncovered Abu Ghraib scandal where Iraqi detainees were subjected to various forms of abuse and torture; physically and psychologically by U.S. soldiers. According to Hersh, Bush's rejection of any views opposing to his regarding the war in Iraq, together with his persistence that the United States push ahead to curb resistance everywhere in Iraq, Hersh called "the war we started" will have its negative and major impact on the country’s economy, which will be proven in forth coming periods. "This president believes in what he's doing. He is prepared to take a lot more body bags," he said. "He is going to fight this all the way. The bombing has gone up exponentially ... How are we going to end this if the president's convinced that he has to see this through?" Hersh suggests that European nations will find new ways to "gang up on us." Key NATO nations have long resisted involvement in Iraq war after the United Nations refused to pass a resolution imposing sanctions to stop the U.S. illegal invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003. Moreover, some of the U.S. war allies have already started to pull out their army from Iraq. "You're going to see American profits disappear. American corporations are going to be in big trouble. It's going to be a mantra not to buy American," Hersh said. "All our major manufacturers are reporting major slowdowns in Europe. You're going to see the dollar disappear. Economically, this country is going to be in trouble and he's going to continue to fight this war." Hersh suggests that Bush’s administration should open talks with the Iraqi resistance, which he described as the only form of government existing in Iraq today, to end the war once and for all. However, he sees this not likely to happen, given Bush's stance. Hence, Hersh says that journalists' jobs are much more difficult as the government officials won't speak openly about options, fearing retribution due to Bush's perspective that opposition is equivalent to treason. "There are people here in this town (Washington, D.C.) at high levels and lower levels in the different agencies that know how bad it is," he said. "Getting them to talk is going to be the problem. I don't think we can." He, moreover, predicted that White House Chief Counsel Alberto Gonzales, nominated to replace John Ashcroft after he announced his resignation as attorney general, will face a tough confirmation hearing. He said military lawyers, who he said "went crazy" in opposition to Gonzales' legal opinions involving interrogation policies, will testify against him. Hersh says that it was those policies, like some believe, which led to the Abu Ghraib tragedy.