Four hundred and twenty eight dollars per person

The Iraq War Will Cost Us $3 Trillion, and Much More

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Why doesn't the public understand the staggering scale of our expenditures? In part because the administration talks only about the upfront costs, which are mostly handled by emergency appropriations. (Iraq funding is apparently still an emergency five years after the war began.) These costs, by our calculations, are now running at $12 billion a month -- $16 billion if you include Afghanistan. By the time you add in the costs hidden in the defense budget, the money we'll have to spend to help future veterans, and money to refurbish a military whose equipment and materiel have been greatly depleted, the total tab to the federal government will almost surely exceed $1.5 trillion.

But the costs to our society and economy are far greater. When a young soldier is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, his or her family will receive a U.S. government check for just $500,000 (combining life insurance with a "death gratuity" -- far less than the typical amount paid by insurance companies for the death of a young person in a car accident. The stark "budgetary cost" of $500,000 is clearly only a fraction of the total cost society pays for the loss of life -- and no one can ever really compensate the families. Moreover, disability pay seldom provides adequate compensation for wounded troops or their families. Indeed, in one out of five cases of seriously injured soldiers, someone in their family has to give up a job to take care of them.

But beyond this is the cost to the already sputtering U.S. economy. All told, the bill for the Iraq war is likely to top $3 trillion. And that's a conservative estimate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html

Quadrennial Defense Review Report
September 30, 2001

This Quadrennial Defense Review was the product of the senior civilian
and military leadership of the Department of Defense. It benefited from
extensive consultation with the President of the United States. It was truly
"top down" in that the decisions taken on strategy, forces, capabilities, and
risks resulted from months of deliberations and consultation among the
most senior Defense Department leadership. This report outlines the key
changes needed to preserve America's safety and security in the years
to come.

The Quadrennial Defense Review and the accompanying report were
largely completed before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the
United States. In important ways, these attacks confirm the strategic
direction and planning principles that resulted from this review,
particularly its emphasis on homeland defense, on surprise, on preparing
for asymmetric threats, on the need to develop new concepts of
deterrence, on the need for a capabilities-based strategy, and on the need
to balance deliberately the different dimensions of risk. However, the
attack on the United States on September 11, 2001 will require us to move
forward more rapidly in these directions, even while we are engaged in
the war against terrorism.

The vast array of complex policy, operational, and even constitutional
issues concerning how we organize and prepare to defend the American
people are now receiving unprecedented attention throughout the
United States government. Importantly, since the scope of homeland
security responsibilities span an array of federal, state, and local
organizations, it also will require enhanced inter-agency processes and
capabilities to effectively defend the United States against attacks. The
recent establishment of the Office of Homeland Security will galvanize
this vital effort.


Finally, the loss of life and damage to our economy from the attack of
September 11, 2001 should give us a new perspective on the question of
what this country can afford for its defense. It would be reckless to press
our luck with false economies or gamble with our children's future. This
nation can afford to spend what is needed to deter the adversaries of
tomorrow and to underpin our prosperity. Those costs do not begin to
compare with the cost in human lives and resources if we fail to do so.