Note: This article is now a bit outdated, but worth a read. The cost of the
wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan is now estimated to cost upwards
of $4 trillion--all money we DIDN'T have.
12. It may shock you, but up until 1992 (while Saddam was still our "friend",
even though we knew he was psychotic), we secretly sold him helicopters and
SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT THE COST OF THE IRAQ WAR
1. The Iraq war since 2001 will have cost between $900 billion and
$3+ trillion, depending whether and to what extent indirect costs are
taken into account. This author will use the congressional budget
office estimate of $1.9 trillion—which includes some indirect but real
costs--as a basis for all the following facts. [1,2]
2. At the outset, the Pentagon estimated the Iraq war would cost
$50-$60 billion, which, in retrospect, was off by a factor of at least
30. Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic adviser, was a bit more
realistic, predicting the cost could go as high as $100-$200 billion.
Donald Rumsfeld called it “baloney”. President Bush subsequently
fired Lindsey. [3]
3. The $1.9 trillion war cost translates to $6200 per U.S. citizen,
or $16,100 average per household. [4]
4. Had we instead donated this money to every household in Iraq
(assuming 6.4 persons per household), this would have amounted to a
gift of $386,000 per household. (No, this is not a misprint!) [5]
5. The Iraq war was (is) the most expensive war in our history,
besides WWII, which cost $4.1 trillion in inflation adjusted dollars.
It is the longest running war in our history, with the exception of
Vietnam (so far). [6] It cost us 209 times as much as the Gulf war, in
which we liberated Kuwait from an Iraq invasion. [21]
6. If we had instead invested or deposited the $1.9 trillion war cost
in a bank in exchange for yearly interest payments at 4% of this
amount, we could have funded $76 billion per year in foreign
humanitarian aid for the next 1000 years, which is 33 times the net
yearly amount of $2.28 billion we are currently spending on foreign
humanitarian aid. [7]
7. This $1.9 trillion has “purchased” the deaths of 50,000 enemy
soldiers or combatants. That’s $38 million per head. “Fortunately”,
we got a 3-for-1 bonus deal, though. For each Iraq soldier or
combatant killed, two civilians were killed, for a total of 150,000
deaths. (We won’t talk about the number maimed, tortured, raped, and
pillaged by various factions in the ensuing lawlessness.) [8]
8. In contrast, the going rate for attacks on U.S. forces and
personnel has typically been in the range of $50-70 per head. [9]
It’s not hard to guess who’s going to run out of money first. A
February-March 2007 poll showed that 51% of the Iraqi population
approved of the attacks on Coalition forces. The same poll indicated
that over 90% of Arab Sunnis in Iraq approved of the attacks. In any
case, it’s also not difficult to guess who was going to run out of
willing combatants first.
(In truth, it’s not quite fair to quote these statistics. We had some
disadvantages. We were the aggressors; they were the defenders of
their country from invaders, and the defenders of Islamic Sharia Law
against western style democracy. Our military couldn’t easily identify the
enemy and they weren’t supposed to shoot indiscriminately; in contrast,
the Quran instructs Muslims to fight all infidels, and Jihad warriers streamed
in from many neighboring Muslim countries. Finally, our soldiers were
juxtaposed between rival religious, ethnic and tribal factions unleashed
by the power vacuum to make war on each other. If you were counting,
that’s three strikes against us. [22] )
9. War has become an extremely profitable business for a record
number of contract companies (mercenaries) involved in Iraq. For
example, Halliburton pulled in $13-16 billion worth of revenue related
to the Iraq war. [9]. To put that figure in context, $13 billion is much
more than the net cost to the U.S. government (in current dollars) of the
entire 1991 Gulf War. After he became Vice President, Dick Cheney
received $33 million in backdated pay from Halliburton. That was the
exact amount that Michael Jordan made the same year. [9]
10. Total U.S. government debt has recently jumped dramatically
[11]—in large part due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Public
and private foreign debt is now so large that foreigners would own the
equivalent of every other home in the United States, or $10.7 trillion
[12], assuming they “called the loan” and were willing to take them as
payment. We have, in effect, greatly furthered the selling of
ourselves, our children and our grandchildren into indentured
servitude to foreign masters for the privilege of making war.
11. A devil's advocate view of the war on Iraq, written by a former
1. The Iraq war since 2001 will have cost between $900 billion and
$3+ trillion, depending whether and to what extent indirect costs are
taken into account. This author will use the congressional budget
office estimate of $1.9 trillion—which includes some indirect but real
costs--as a basis for all the following facts. [1,2]
2. At the outset, the Pentagon estimated the Iraq war would cost
$50-$60 billion, which, in retrospect, was off by a factor of at least
30. Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic adviser, was a bit more
realistic, predicting the cost could go as high as $100-$200 billion.
Donald Rumsfeld called it “baloney”. President Bush subsequently
fired Lindsey. [3]
3. The $1.9 trillion war cost translates to $6200 per U.S. citizen,
or $16,100 average per household. [4]
4. Had we instead donated this money to every household in Iraq
(assuming 6.4 persons per household), this would have amounted to a
gift of $386,000 per household. (No, this is not a misprint!) [5]
5. The Iraq war was (is) the most expensive war in our history,
besides WWII, which cost $4.1 trillion in inflation adjusted dollars.
It is the longest running war in our history, with the exception of
Vietnam (so far). [6] It cost us 209 times as much as the Gulf war, in
which we liberated Kuwait from an Iraq invasion. [21]
6. If we had instead invested or deposited the $1.9 trillion war cost
in a bank in exchange for yearly interest payments at 4% of this
amount, we could have funded $76 billion per year in foreign
humanitarian aid for the next 1000 years, which is 33 times the net
yearly amount of $2.28 billion we are currently spending on foreign
humanitarian aid. [7]
7. This $1.9 trillion has “purchased” the deaths of 50,000 enemy
soldiers or combatants. That’s $38 million per head. “Fortunately”,
we got a 3-for-1 bonus deal, though. For each Iraq soldier or
combatant killed, two civilians were killed, for a total of 150,000
deaths. (We won’t talk about the number maimed, tortured, raped, and
pillaged by various factions in the ensuing lawlessness.) [8]
8. In contrast, the going rate for attacks on U.S. forces and
personnel has typically been in the range of $50-70 per head. [9]
It’s not hard to guess who’s going to run out of money first. A
February-March 2007 poll showed that 51% of the Iraqi population
approved of the attacks on Coalition forces. The same poll indicated
that over 90% of Arab Sunnis in Iraq approved of the attacks. In any
case, it’s also not difficult to guess who was going to run out of
willing combatants first.
(In truth, it’s not quite fair to quote these statistics. We had some
disadvantages. We were the aggressors; they were the defenders of
their country from invaders, and the defenders of Islamic Sharia Law
against western style democracy. Our military couldn’t easily identify the
enemy and they weren’t supposed to shoot indiscriminately; in contrast,
the Quran instructs Muslims to fight all infidels, and Jihad warriers streamed
in from many neighboring Muslim countries. Finally, our soldiers were
juxtaposed between rival religious, ethnic and tribal factions unleashed
by the power vacuum to make war on each other. If you were counting,
that’s three strikes against us. [22] )
9. War has become an extremely profitable business for a record
number of contract companies (mercenaries) involved in Iraq. For
example, Halliburton pulled in $13-16 billion worth of revenue related
to the Iraq war. [9]. To put that figure in context, $13 billion is much
more than the net cost to the U.S. government (in current dollars) of the
entire 1991 Gulf War. After he became Vice President, Dick Cheney
received $33 million in backdated pay from Halliburton. That was the
exact amount that Michael Jordan made the same year. [9]
10. Total U.S. government debt has recently jumped dramatically
[11]—in large part due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Public
and private foreign debt is now so large that foreigners would own the
equivalent of every other home in the United States, or $10.7 trillion
[12], assuming they “called the loan” and were willing to take them as
payment. We have, in effect, greatly furthered the selling of
ourselves, our children and our grandchildren into indentured
servitude to foreign masters for the privilege of making war.
11. A devil's advocate view of the war on Iraq, written by a former
commissioned officer in the marine corp and appearing in the Reader
Weekly on Sept 20th, 2001, proves very prescient today. Written only a
a few days after the emotionally-charged events of September 11th, its sober
assessment pointed to the difficulty of fighting against a shadowy enemy
with no national identity. And it warned that Bush's challenge to other
countries that "you're either for us or against us" increased the danger that
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would become a proxy war waged by other
Muslim countries against us. So then, how was this viewpoint so entirely missed
by the president's defense and intelligence advisors, by the majority of the
active and retired military heirarchy, by congress and even in all the quiet
diplomatic conversations with foreign countries? The only possible answer
to this is, it wasn't missed at at all. Bush (or his handlers Cheney and
Rumsfeld) simply didn't listen.
a few days after the emotionally-charged events of September 11th, its sober
assessment pointed to the difficulty of fighting against a shadowy enemy
with no national identity. And it warned that Bush's challenge to other
countries that "you're either for us or against us" increased the danger that
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would become a proxy war waged by other
Muslim countries against us. So then, how was this viewpoint so entirely missed
by the president's defense and intelligence advisors, by the majority of the
active and retired military heirarchy, by congress and even in all the quiet
diplomatic conversations with foreign countries? The only possible answer
to this is, it wasn't missed at at all. Bush (or his handlers Cheney and
Rumsfeld) simply didn't listen.
even though we knew he was psychotic), we secretly sold him helicopters and
various munitions purely because it served our own interests to use
Saddam to "wear down" Iran in their war. We also gave Saddam chemical and
biological weapon ingredients, including anthrax and other germs. We also gave
him a small amount of nuclear development instrumentation. He subsequently
used our helicopters and our poison gas technology to gas the Kurds,
as well as for other horrible crimes against his own people--all of
which we were aware of at the time and didn't say anything about. A month
Saddam to "wear down" Iran in their war. We also gave Saddam chemical and
biological weapon ingredients, including anthrax and other germs. We also gave
him a small amount of nuclear development instrumentation. He subsequently
used our helicopters and our poison gas technology to gas the Kurds,
as well as for other horrible crimes against his own people--all of
which we were aware of at the time and didn't say anything about. A month
after the Kurds were gassed, we were still shipping him more weapons.
So what was the name of the secret envoy who arranged all this? Donald
Rumsfeld. Yes, that Donald Rumsfeld. If the U.S. government had not secretly
engaged in this questionable behavior, some argue this might
So what was the name of the secret envoy who arranged all this? Donald
Rumsfeld. Yes, that Donald Rumsfeld. If the U.S. government had not secretly
engaged in this questionable behavior, some argue this might
have completely avoided the circumstances (or perceived circumstances)
that led to the Iraq war in the first place. Talk about a high ultimate cost resulting
from a little bit of secret weapons dealings! Since you may find this too
shocking to believe, here are some internet links:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/dixon06172004.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo0919.html
that led to the Iraq war in the first place. Talk about a high ultimate cost resulting
from a little bit of secret weapons dealings! Since you may find this too
shocking to believe, here are some internet links:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/dixon06172004.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo0919.html
13. We may have reignited a new and far more costly arms and
technology race—one that we cannot afford this time, considering that
countries like China and Russia are booming or are flush with oil
money.
The argument goes like this: Iran was labeled as part of the “axis of evil”
by the U.S.and subsequently shown an example (in Iraq) of what we do
to our enemies. Its rulers decided to beef up their military capability.
While Iran only spends 2.5% of its GDP on its military (as compared to
4% for the U.S.), it now has a 500,000 man, well-trained army. As
recently as January 2009, it successfully launched a
domestically-engineered satellite and is thought to have “Shahab-6”
missiles capable of reaching Europe. [13] To address this Iranian
missile threat [14], the US recently signed an agreement with Poland
to begin construction of an anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland
and the Czech Republic. According to a senior pentagon official,
“this anti-ballistic missile shield will cover all of Europe by 2018.”
[15] In November 2010, NATO agreed to this missile shield at a cost
of $273 million over the next 10 years. [16] (Note that it cost us
that much to shoot just 7 enemy combatants in Iraq.) So far, no one
has challenged the $273 million estimate, although it is interesting
to note that in 2009, the military spent $11 billion on missile
defense R&D alone. [17] Of course, the escalation doesn’t stop here.
Moscow views the shield as a security threat designed to undermine
Russia's nuclear deterrent. "We will be forced to respond to this
adequately. The EU and US have been warned," Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev said last month…) [18]
A similar story can be told about North Korea, which is building up
both its nuclear and rocket capability. A joint U.S.-Japanese missile
defense program being built by Raytheon is now slated to cost $3.1
billion, $700 million more than expected…this is a sea based leg of an
emerging U.S. anti-missile shield [19] for the purpose of protecting
South Korea and Japan from the threat posed by North Korea’s ongoing
rocket testing. [19] Naturally, China doesn’t like this, but they
are even more incensed that the U.S. has been selling Patriot air
defense missiles to Taiwan, which they consider a “slap in the face”.
At least partly in response to this, they recently completed a
successful test of a land-based missile defense system of their own.
Writing in the newspaper Study Times, Maj. Gen. Jun Yinan said China
had the power to strike back. “We must take countermeasures to make
the other side pay a corresponding price and suffer corresponding
punishment,” wrote General Jun, a professor at China’s National
Defense University. [20]
These comments are especially poignant, coming from the
representatives of countries that are effectively propping up our own
tottering economy by loaning us trillions of dollars.
We don’t learn from history. Even 100 years before the Vietnam war,
old Abe had some advice we might have heeded:
“Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall
deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so
whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a
purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”
–Abraham Lincoln
“Military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of
blood—that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy…”
--Abraham Lincoln
“Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and
lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
--Abraham Lincoln
SOURCES:
[1] $900 billion spent or approved costs:
http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm
[2] $3+ billion estimate including indirect costs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/business/17leonhardt.html
[4 U.S. population of 307 million and 2.59 persons per household, 2000
census: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
[5] Based on Iraq population of 31.5 million, and average household size of 6.4
[6] Cost of WWII: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf
[7] U.S. Government spends $2.28 billion yearly on humanitarian
foreign aid: http://truthmonk.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/does-the-united-states-spend-too-much-on-foreign-aid
[8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
[9] $50-70 price per head, and Halliburton/Cheney Information:
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/transcripts/5287.html#
[10] February-March 2007 Iraqi poll:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency
[11] Explosion of public debt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
[12] Total foreign debt of $10.7 trillion:
http://www.political-analysis.org/ww/id8.html
[13] Iran military buildup:
http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=471&Itemid=900
[14] “…system was intended to protect against future missiles from
Iran, such as the alleged Shahab-6…”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_missile_defense_complex_in_Poland
[15] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1266492/U-S-vows-100-cent-cover-Europe-anti-ballistic-missile-shield-2018.html
[16] http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2010/November/20101120130310elrem0.4205241.html
[17] http://www.issues2010.com/pdf/Missile_Defense.pdf
[18] Russian opposition to missiles:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOUimCJ4vK08igzVeFrts-owNltw
[19] US/Japanese Defense Missiles:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0352811220090803
[20] Chinese opposition to missiles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/world/asia/13china.html
[21] $9.1 billion net cost of gulf war:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#Cost
[22] Problems predicted by CIA:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-25-senate-report_N.htm
technology race—one that we cannot afford this time, considering that
countries like China and Russia are booming or are flush with oil
money.
The argument goes like this: Iran was labeled as part of the “axis of evil”
by the U.S.and subsequently shown an example (in Iraq) of what we do
to our enemies. Its rulers decided to beef up their military capability.
While Iran only spends 2.5% of its GDP on its military (as compared to
4% for the U.S.), it now has a 500,000 man, well-trained army. As
recently as January 2009, it successfully launched a
domestically-engineered satellite and is thought to have “Shahab-6”
missiles capable of reaching Europe. [13] To address this Iranian
missile threat [14], the US recently signed an agreement with Poland
to begin construction of an anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland
and the Czech Republic. According to a senior pentagon official,
“this anti-ballistic missile shield will cover all of Europe by 2018.”
[15] In November 2010, NATO agreed to this missile shield at a cost
of $273 million over the next 10 years. [16] (Note that it cost us
that much to shoot just 7 enemy combatants in Iraq.) So far, no one
has challenged the $273 million estimate, although it is interesting
to note that in 2009, the military spent $11 billion on missile
defense R&D alone. [17] Of course, the escalation doesn’t stop here.
Moscow views the shield as a security threat designed to undermine
Russia's nuclear deterrent. "We will be forced to respond to this
adequately. The EU and US have been warned," Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev said last month…) [18]
A similar story can be told about North Korea, which is building up
both its nuclear and rocket capability. A joint U.S.-Japanese missile
defense program being built by Raytheon is now slated to cost $3.1
billion, $700 million more than expected…this is a sea based leg of an
emerging U.S. anti-missile shield [19] for the purpose of protecting
South Korea and Japan from the threat posed by North Korea’s ongoing
rocket testing. [19] Naturally, China doesn’t like this, but they
are even more incensed that the U.S. has been selling Patriot air
defense missiles to Taiwan, which they consider a “slap in the face”.
At least partly in response to this, they recently completed a
successful test of a land-based missile defense system of their own.
Writing in the newspaper Study Times, Maj. Gen. Jun Yinan said China
had the power to strike back. “We must take countermeasures to make
the other side pay a corresponding price and suffer corresponding
punishment,” wrote General Jun, a professor at China’s National
Defense University. [20]
These comments are especially poignant, coming from the
representatives of countries that are effectively propping up our own
tottering economy by loaning us trillions of dollars.
We don’t learn from history. Even 100 years before the Vietnam war,
old Abe had some advice we might have heeded:
“Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall
deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so
whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a
purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”
–Abraham Lincoln
“Military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of
blood—that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy…”
--Abraham Lincoln
“Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and
lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
--Abraham Lincoln
SOURCES:
[1] $900 billion spent or approved costs:
http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm
[2] $3+ billion estimate including indirect costs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/business/17leonhardt.html
[4 U.S. population of 307 million and 2.59 persons per household, 2000
census: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
[5] Based on Iraq population of 31.5 million, and average household size of 6.4
[6] Cost of WWII: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf
[7] U.S. Government spends $2.28 billion yearly on humanitarian
foreign aid: http://truthmonk.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/does-the-united-states-spend-too-much-on-foreign-aid
[8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
[9] $50-70 price per head, and Halliburton/Cheney Information:
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/transcripts/5287.html#
[10] February-March 2007 Iraqi poll:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency
[11] Explosion of public debt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
[12] Total foreign debt of $10.7 trillion:
http://www.political-analysis.org/ww/id8.html
[13] Iran military buildup:
http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=471&Itemid=900
[14] “…system was intended to protect against future missiles from
Iran, such as the alleged Shahab-6…”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_missile_defense_complex_in_Poland
[15] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1266492/U-S-vows-100-cent-cover-Europe-anti-ballistic-missile-shield-2018.html
[16] http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2010/November/20101120130310elrem0.4205241.html
[17] http://www.issues2010.com/pdf/Missile_Defense.pdf
[18] Russian opposition to missiles:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOUimCJ4vK08igzVeFrts-owNltw
[19] US/Japanese Defense Missiles:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0352811220090803
[20] Chinese opposition to missiles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/world/asia/13china.html
[21] $9.1 billion net cost of gulf war:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#Cost
[22] Problems predicted by CIA:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-25-senate-report_N.htm
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