How much has the US spent on war since 9/11? That’s been a matter of major debate, with no real official figures on the matter, and estimates varying wildly from low-end reports on the cost of the literal deployments to much larger all-in figures covering the war and aftermath.
We’re going to finally get an official figure at some point soon, however, as the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has been revealed to include a provision requiring the Pentagon and the IRS to both figure out the overall cost of the wars and make that figure publicly available.
Like most NDAAs, the 3,000+ page 2017 version includes a massive number of requirements which were neither publicized before the fact, or indeed widely known once the bill had passed, with analysts still digging through it and finding new details.
Congressional estimates have put the Iraq and Afghan wars at $800 billion and $700 billion, respectively, while some analysts have suggested that once the costs for medical care for the massive number of wounded is factored in, the cost could be many trillions of dollars. The Pentagon and IRS may be in a better position to know for sure, and the pressure is certainly going to be on with this legislation for them to come clean about the matter.
I’d be surprised if the Pentagon delivers since they’ve gone rogue when it comes to the American taxpayer’s money. They want to continue getting their blank check so the can continue to “loose” billions (into whose pockets I wonder). All this is course with zero accountability or fear of an investigation.
That we are still having to discuss and cost wars, shows little progress as a nation. We need to confront these costs in a per person cost and then send the bill to the corporations profiting from the wars, be it Exxon or Boeing and everybody in between, plus, add a war tax to oil products. Until the public is subjected to in their face costs and the cost comes directly out of their pocket books, the cost of war will still be over their shoulder and out of sight.
Pentagon, IRS Both Have to Publicly Report All Costs…
If anyone believes the bullsh*t from the Pentagon and IRS,
I have some prime California beachfront property on sale
in central Nebraska.
5 Trillion is probably a reasonable estimate if you include
hundreds of ‘billions’ these corrupt warmongering bastards
have siphoned off for themselves through wasteful spending
and outright stealing from the USG taxpayers.
No person could ever put a dollar amount on the 1 million
Iraqis Dubya slaughtered in his bogus 2003 invasion.
Oboomer and the wicked b*tch Hillary Clinton are no better.
Not only did Oboomer continue Dubya’s wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq, he has two of his own on going on in Syria and Libya
that have devastated both countries and slaughtered hundreds
of thousands of human beings.
And someone was actually stupid enough to award this guy
the Nobel Peace Prize.
Good idea to showcase costs.
Unfortunately, the question can be answered in many ways, from only the most immediate costs in the most narrow sense, to the longer term costs to reset the force, to the long term costs of VA care, to the even more long term costs to Iraq and the region that will also impact us, to the most long term costs of all the opportunity costs foregone when we did these idiot wars instead of rebuilding out own country as we should have been.
You could justify almost any answer you want, between huge to unimaginably huge, a couple trillion to many more.
But really, that answers the most important question. It was not cheap, not a good choice for a war of choice.