Cost of Bush’s Iraq War
The true cost of the War in Iraq can not be measured. The cost in blood and lives of American, British, and other coalition forces is beyond calculation.
The cost of caring for returning wounded warriors will be with us for decades. No doubt post traumatic stress syndrome will effect hundreds of thousands of Iraq War veterans. How can you measure the full cost of divorces, suicides, problems with adjusting to civilian life after three and four rotations into a war zone, and countless broken lives?
The answer. You can not. The cost is simply too great to be measured.
Then how do you measure the cost to the people who are experiencing the most deaths, injuries, and suffering? The long suffering people of Iraq who suffered under Saddam, then suffered more under the sanctions imposed by the United States and the UN, who are suffering even more and to a greater extent under the occupation.
While estimates very widely as to the number of Iraqis killed outright by the invasion and occupation, the number is probably in the hundreds of thousands. How do you put a price tag on this anguish?
Almost 2,000,000 Iraqis have fled Iraq, the country they love, to become refugees. Another estimated 1,900,000 have become refugees in their own land, fleeing ethnic cleansing by death squads who wear army or police uniforms. To underscore the security challenge in Iraq many of the death squad members are thought to be serving in the army or police.
How can you put a dollar estimate on that level of suffering and displacement of lives? You really can not, can you?
What you can put a price tag on is the cost to the American taxpayer for this immoral and foolish adventure. While the figure will likely understate the costs, as the Bush administration has found clever and deceitful ways to keep some costs out of the official government figures, the number below is based on Congressional appropriations and is as close as you can come to seeing the ongoing costs of combat operations.
Keep in mind that even this awful figure doesn’t state the true costs as it measures only the costs of military hardware, like aircraft, tanks, Humvees, guns, bullets, costs of supporting the troops, health care and medical supplies, tents, body armor, trucks, etc., while ignoring opportunity costs. That amazing amount of money could be used for much more productive purposes back in the USA.
To get a measure of the true costs visit the National Priorities Project website and see what the US taxpayer is forgoing in projects that could be completed within the US if the funds weren’t being consumed by the Iraq War.
However you measure the cost of the Iraq War is right off the charts. And the benefits?
If you can think of any please post your comments. The world is anxious to know.
EXCELLENT, David! You continue to outdo yourself with informative information regarding TRUTHS we unfortunately will never learn from the \”horse\’s mouth\”. . .the Bush administration. While the information you have provided in this blog is depressing because of these truths, it is something that all Americans need to be aware of. I commend you for this well written post, and for telling it like it is. Knowledge is golden, and you have provided a great service by laying the cost of the immoral Iraq fiasco on the line, both in terms of blood and hard earned American taxpayer\’s money. Your post is one of the best I have seen in a long time, and I will return from time to time to watch the cost chart climb. While it won\’t make me happy to see the incredible figures, it will be a remind me of what has been spent on this war, which America has now endured longer than WW II, and what our tax dollars could have accomplished during the last four plus years under competent leadership. And it will remind me that there is continues to escalate with no apparent end in sight as long as Bush is in office. A sobering thought, one we all need to keep at the forefront of our minds.
Thanks for the detailed comment and kind words.
Yes, it is sad to be writing about American leadership in such a manner. Let’s hope Americans think long and hard about the character and leadership abilities of the men and woman running for President before they vote in 2008. The next President will have a massive task dealing with Bush damage control and repair.