Shock & Awe: Deception & Destruction

On March 19, 2003, 20 years ago this month, the United States launched its war on Iraq with “shock and awe,” a devastating bombardment of Baghdad with targets including the city’s water stations and electrical grid. More than 8,000 Americans (military, DOD civilian, and contractors) died in the Iraq war. In the broader global “war on terror,” Brown University’s Cost of War project estimated in 2021 that 900,000 had died in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan, in addition to Iraq, with related U.S. spending totaling some $8 trillion.

Bill Gallagher is a retired, Peabody Award winning reporter for Fox-2 News in Detroit, as well as the former mayor of his hometown of Niagara Falls, New York. He Studied Political Science, History, Philosophy, Theology and Transcendental Meditation at Niagara University. While working at Channel 2, Bill wrote a weekly column for the Niagara Falls Reporter, in large part covering the George…