War costs may total $2.4 trillion

[sabra]

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday.

A previous CBO estimate put the wars' costs at more than $1.6 trillion. This one adds $705 billion in interest, taking into account that the conflicts are being funded with borrowed money.

The new estimate also includes President Bush's request Monday for another $46 billion in war funding, said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., budget committee chairman, who provided the CBO's new numbers to USA TODAY.

Assuming that Iraq accounts for about 80% of that total, the Iraq war would cost $1.9 trillion, including $564 million in interest, said Thomas Kahn, Spratt's staff director. The committee holds a hearing on war costs this morning.

"The number is so big, it boggles the mind," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-10-23-wacosts_N.htm

[TwilightGardener]

1. Isn't China picking up the tab? So let's order the "Surf-n-Turf" and the champagne.

[insanad]

12. What the money we're spending could be doing instead....

What the money we're spending could be doing instead....
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?op ...
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/recent/
http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War In Iraq Costs SO FAR...(I gleaned these figures a couple of months ago so they've gone up considerably since then)

$456,172,238,408

Instead, we could have insured
273,157,028
children for one year.

Instead, we could have built
4,107,403
additional housing units.


Instead, we could have hired
7,905,524
additional public school teachers for one year.

Instead, we could have paid for
60,420,205
children to attend a year of Head Start.


Instead, we could have provided
22,114,244
students four-year scholarships at public universities.

SO FAR, and the counter is running with $4,100 for every American household;
$1,500 for every American;
$3,400 for every taxpayer;
$11 million per hour and;
$275 million per day.

Think what that amount of money could have done if we'd invested it in alternative energy sources. At $4,100 per household, we could have made solar, wind, or other natural and renewable sources of energy available to each home in America, making oil and coal nearly obsolete in the heating and cooling of our homes. If we'd spent that on our auto industries and created more fuel efficient, cleaner, or even electric transportation, think what that could do for our dependence on oil and the unstable countries we do business with.

I do sincerely hope that our nation will be able to hold George Bush and his cronies, and the companies he is in bed with accountable for this war and what it's cost all of us. I believe he should be held accountable for what has happened to Iraq, and on some part, the loss of lives of the Iraqi people. He is a war president as he always hoped, but he's also a war criminal and should be prosecuted as such. The money hurts now, but the loss of our military strength, the reputation and integrity of our nation, the loss of esteem of the nations of the world and so much more are the true legacy of George W. Bush.

[saigon68]

13. THIEVES AND WAR CRIMINALS

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed" (President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953).

[gratuitous]

2. But we can't afford universal health care

See, our president bought these two invasions, see, and we're kind of stuck paying for them, see, because if we didn't, see, we'd have to conclude that buying those invasions in the first place, see, was sort of a mistake, see, and this administration doesn't make mistakes.

See?

[Doctor_J]

3. It won't matter if they manage to turn dollars into pesos

One of the things the Nazis did early on was to intentionally ruin the dm. Then they were able to pay off their reparations from Versailles in worthless paper. All we need to do to "pay this off" is to print an extra 2.4 trillion $1 bills - solves that problem, and also makes Cheney's Euros worth even more.

[OneBlueSky]

4. easy fix . . . just have every man, woman and child cough up the $8000 they owe . . .

and we'll be free and clear of this debt . . .

don't have the money, you say? . . . then earn it! . . . this is capitalist America, don'tcha know, and if you're not a millionaire, you're just not trying hard enough . . . not doing your best . . . I mean, hell, if George W. Bush can do it, anyone can! . . .

so get off your asses, America . . . the war effort needs YOU! . . .

just in case . . .

:sarcasm:

[Baby Snooks]

5. You have to wonder...

You have to wonder how closer to world peace we would be instead of closer to world war had we spent $2.4 trillion on improving the lives of the Iraqi and Afghanistani people instead of destroying their lives.

And maybe spent a little of it on our own. But, alas, then we wouldn't have the oil, would we? Guess what. We still don't have the oil. And probably never will. We still don't have the Iranian oil 27 years after we removed the Shah of Iran. Believing we had a better deal with Khomeini. A better oil deal that is.

No doubt by the time Jeb Bush becomes president after Hillary Clinton we will once again be poised for another war. To once again liberate the Iraqi and Afghanistani people. From the dictators we installed thinking they would give us the oil and the pipeline. Let's not forget that pipeline in Afghanistan. The Enron pipeline. To transport the Russian oil. After we liberated the Russian people, of course. And of course maybe next time we can finally declare war on Russia. After we declare war on Iran. After all, it is OUR oil. Don't think so? Just ask a Republican.

We are not a empire falling. We are a fallen empire.

[Doctor_J]

7. Boy, you're a glass half-empty sort aren't you?

You have to wonder how closer to world peace we would be instead of closer to world war had we spent $2.4 trillion on improving the lives of the Iraqi and Afghanistani people instead of destroying their lives.

But that IS what we did. Don't you watch Fox?

[Baby Snooks]

18. Watch Fox?

What? Watch Fox? Why, it would ruin my beautiful mind. Or cause me to lose it.

[htuttle]

16. It probably would have been more effective to just drop bundles of cash on the Iraqis...

...instead of bombs.

A country full of rich people would have just overthrown Hussein themselves, and they'd probably like us a lot more now.

There'd be a lot less dead people, too.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Hey, it's only $8,000 per man, woman and child in the US.

What are people complaining about? Stand up and do your patriotic duties! :sarcasm:

From the article:

"As of Sept. 30, the two wars have cost $604 billion, the CBO says. Adjusted for inflation, that is higher than the costs of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Defense spending during those two wars accounted for a far larger share of the American economy.

In the months before the March 2003 Iraq invasion, the Bush administration estimated the Iraq war would cost no more than $50 billion. "

[Lasher]

8. They said the reconstruction would cost nothing.

"We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." - Paul Wolfowitz

But who can tell? Junior mixed the reconstruction money in with the military spending and nobody will say where the money went, except that it made good footballs.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. Don't forget the first part of that statement by Wolfowitz

"The oil revenues of Iraq could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years."

3/27/2003, House Budget Committee testimony

He's also the same person that said Shinseki was "wildly off the mark" when he said the US would need several hundred thousand soldiers to stabilize post-war Iraq. Instead Wolfowitz asserted they would greet us as liberators (I believe he said like France in the 1940's).

[Lasher]

15. Oh there's much more

“Well, the Office of Management and Budget, has come up come up with a number that's something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question.” - Donald Rumsfeld Jan. 10, 2003

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly,... weeks rather than months." Dick Cheney - Mar. 16, 2003

http://zfacts.com/p/87.html

And who was that administration official who was fired for daring to say this could cost as much as $100 billion or so?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. That would be former Enron consultant and the chief person behind the $1.35 billion tax cuts...

Lawrence Lindsey.

I'd forgotten about that little faux pas of his. Alas, cut down in his prime, but not before he could put the final nail in the coffin of the US deficit.

[Cha]

9. I think the supreme court should

pay their FAIR SHARE.

[sakabatou]

10. Yay *!

You made the most expensive war in US history!

[dkofos]

11. Looks like wolfowitz was off a few zeros.

[Divine Discontent]

32. and a few years in length...

what's funny (sad) is that they knew well they wanted this to be an ongoing thing, slowly destroying the Muslim countries is a goal of some of the GOPers and the others want to make billions off rockets and food service for the troops...

I never think I can get more disgusted at my gov't, but literally, my thoughts of them being outright agents of satan become more plausible with every ridiculous excuse they make as to why we continue the need to not give medical care to everyone, and meanwhile give billions to Blackwater & Halliburton to either slaughter civilians, bully our own military, or give our troops sewage & necro-tainted water to drink.

SICK SICK SICK!

[Stuckinthebush]

17. so if we stop now

and put a war tax on every individual in the country for around 100 per year, then we will have the thing paid off in 80 years - minus interest.

[truthisfreedom]

20. That's a very "conservative" figure. We all know that any of the projected figures end up being

much, much larger in reality.

[progressoid]

21. I bet for a couple hundred million, we could have just bribed Sadam into exile.

[brooklynite]

22. Can I pay for my share and cancel the service?

[tuckessee]

23. Small price to pay...

...to destroy two nations & start WW3.

[Hydra]

24. Expect the number to be closer to $20 Trillion

Because not only will we buy all the neat little toys Lockhead and the other MIC members can sell to us, we're busy provoking Putin into a new nuclear deadlock- new shiny nukes needed for that, too, along with space-based weapons like beam weapons and battle platforms.

Meanwhile, people starve here.

"We have no butter... but I ask you, would you rather have butter or guns? Preparedness makes us powerful. Butter merely makes us fat."

Hermann Göring

[gateley]

25. You know what? The amounts don't even mean anything to me anymore. They

just keep growing and it's just too surreal. I feel defeated.

[eagler]

26. U.S. CBO estimates $2.4 trillion long-term war costs

Source: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money, according to a study released on Wednesday.


With President George W. Bush indicating a large contingent of U.S. troops likely will be engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan for many years to come, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the total tab for the wars from 2001 through 2017.

CBO estimated that interest costs alone from 2001-2017 could total more than $700 billion.

So far, Congress has given Bush $604 billion for the two wars, with about $412 billion spent in Iraq, according to CBO, which is Congress' in-house budget analyst. In Iraq alone, the United States is spending about $11 billion a month, with costs escalating.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/pl_nm/iraq_usa_funding_dc

---

What they have done to the country is unforgivable

[FightingIrish]

27. $2.4 trillion from the pockets of many into the pockets of a few

This war is the biggest scam ever pulled on the American people and it is rapidly accelerating as Bush's term winds down. It is grand theft from every American and millions not yet born.

[dickbearton]

30. Think of all the good that money could have done...

The Criminal Bush should be hung for that reason alone.

[DemReadingDU]

28. Does this amount include money for our wounded veterans?

The article didn't mention that. The costs for our wounded veterans are going to be astronomical.

[jody]

29. I've seen figures for VA costs that range from $500 to $900 billion. n/t

[FreeStateDemocrat]

33. ..... that the White House brushed off as "speculation." This level of arrogance is expensive.

$2.4 trillion on wars projected over next decade
White House brushes off analysis of Iraq, Afghanistan fight as 'speculation'


NBC News and news services
Updated: 6:36 p.m. ET Oct 24, 2007
WASHINGTON - Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost as much as $2.4 trillion through the next decade, according to a new analysis Wednesday that the White House brushed off as "speculation."

The analysis, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, provides the most comprehensive and far-reaching estimate to date, taking into account costs previously not counted and assuming large number of forces would remain in the regions.

According to CBO, the U.S. has spent about $600 billion to date on both wars, including $39 billion in diplomatic operations and foreign aid.
If the U.S. cuts the number of troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to 75,000 six years from now, it would cost the U.S. another $1 trillion for military and diplomatic operations and $705 billion in interest payments to pay for the wars through 2017.

Democrats say voters won't stand for it, and so they would consider paying for the military campaigns in brief installments, instead of full one-year terms.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21456930/

[Earth_First]

31. "Through the next decade..."?

Is there something the CBO knows about that the rest of us don't?

[Neoma]

34. Wow, I'm up too early.

I thought it said 'wal-mart' at first.

[Rockerdem]

35. Iraq is the Looking Glass

I'm so cynical about this whole Middle East adventure that I don't know where to begin. First of all, it's the product of One-Party rule dictated by the votes of congresscritters of both parties. Who are doing the work of corporate America. It's sick.

I've been re-assessing the situation the last few weeks, and have come to the conclusion that Iraq was only the set-up for the real long-term target: Iran. It should have been relatively easy a task in retrospect, only Bushco bungled it so badly. It's only in the last few months that the situation has stablilized to what it should have been after the easy walkover to Baghad: namely, a cold but not pneumonia.

My cynicism tells me that the GOP/DLC political conglomerate that permanently rules this country will go to the next phase, and are preparing to sell Iraq as a victory as a preliminary gambit. I think that they're going to get away with it. I don't see Hillary as being an obstacle - in fact, she'll "grow", and say that her initial vote was right all along. I can't see any evidence to the contrary. There is no other rational explanation for the ongoing funding - I'm all ears if anyone has a good argument.