Iraq, Afghan War Costs May Exceed $300B

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050216/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/war_costs

High technology, the costs of paying and protecting a modern soldier, and the worldwide nature of the war on terrorism are all possible reasons, experts say.


"Every facet of military expenditure has skyrocketed since the Gulf War (news - web sites)," said Loren B. Thompson, a military expert with the Lexington Institute. "The biggest reason why is because the military is more and more a microcosm of the broader economy."


The all-volunteer force, put in place by President Nixon in 1973 to replace the draft, has forced the military to compete with the private sector for soldiers, and offer better pay and benefits, he said. Sending those soldiers to war costs still more.


"The bottom-line problem with the all-volunteer force is you have to convince middle-class people to risk their lives for middle-class pay, so of course the price for each soldier keeps going up," he said.

...wasn't it 400 billion about a month ago?

[punpirate]

1. Hmmm...

... that's a propaganda piece, if I've ever seen one. This suggests that all the costs are directly related to individual soldiers, when the inflated costs are actually the result of privatization of the military and greased contracts for preferred contractors, horrible accounting practices and a virtual absence of oversight.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. All sucked from the US economy (stolen from us & our kids).

Imagine what we could do with that $$$ here!

[Disturbed]

3. War is good for some.

Billions are being made by many Multi-Corps and the MIC. When the oil from Iraq starts flowing more smoothly the U.S Oil Corps will rake in billions. The U.S. taxpayers? Suckers.

[Toots]

15. the U.S Oil Corps will rake in billions.

There are very few US oil companies left. Most are all international consortiums. Chevron, Exxon, Shell, etc. are all international so they don't pay US taxes. The few oil companies that are truly American are probably not going to be involved at all.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. That's more than $1000 for every man, woman, and child in the USA

But hey, there's not enough money to take care of people at home. :eyes:

I hate these warmongering bastards :mad::mad::mad:

[izzie]

10. It is really a tax we and our kids will pay----to China

They will own us yet.They will not have to go to war just let us keep the GOP in office for 10 more years.

[UL_Approved]

4. Fiscal Responsibility?

Only $125 billion?

When will the world accept that Kerry was right about all of his points in the debates?

When will we realize that Bush got us so bad?

And how will we pick up all of the pieces?

[BiggJawn]

5. "Compete for Soldiers"?

Inner-city store notwithstanding, how many Burger King employees have been killed in the last 20 months? A lot less than 1500, I'll warrant....

They don't know how much it will cost. They don't know when it will end. Some day, the world may have to do to us what we did to Germany and Japan to stop this insanity...

[AzDar]

6. Sickening. n/t

[corker]

8. 14 permanent military bases

are expensive

[leftchick]

11. and the permanent military communications system

which costs another few billion....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2281&ncid=742&e=5&u=/thenation/20050118/cm_thenation/132132

Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon (news - web sites) is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan (news - web sites).


"People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached," Dewey Clarridge, the CIA (news - web sites)'s former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.

[Ganja Ninja]

9. If we get out of Iraq within the next 24 months we might ...

be able to keep the price from hitting 1/2 a trillion. If we had put 1/2 a trillion dollars into the Social Security trust fund I wonder how long it would be before it runs out of money.

[0007]

12. Bring the troops home immediately!

"The total request exceeds the annual defense budget of every other country in the world, according to figures supplied by the Center for Defense Information. The organization says Russia, with the second-largest military budget, spends $65 billion"

[indepat]

13. Such a small price to pay to keep us safe

[Al-CIAda]

14. Its going to exceed 600 B. by the time all is done.

The stealing will also continue

[ConcernedNonpartisan]

16. The direct cost

doesn't even begin to reflect the total.

We will be paying for this forever. All the hate and anger directed toward the US over our unprovoked invasion of Iraq and (seemingly) total disregard (and disdain) for other governments and religions will linger on for a long time and will have consequences far into the future.

[LynnTheDem]

17. Isn't that funny...$300 billion + is what the EXPERTS SAID...BEFORE war.

And bush & his stupid Cabal mocked & laughed.

[TahitiNut]

18. The Bush cabal estimated $1.7 billion ... TOTAL.

No lie is too bold for them. They know no integrity.

[LynnTheDem]

19. They lie AND they're dumber than dirt. What a bunch of incompetant fools.

[TahitiNut]

20. Faux-Lincoln adherents. They fool some of the people all of the time.

They're competent in exploiting the Greater Fool Theory. They're practiced at fraud. They're soulless liars. They know absolutely no boundaries of conscience.


What's particularly fascinating is that Lincoln never said "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." This quote is falsely attributed to Lincoln. Thus, it's a recursive fraud.

[cosmicdot]

21. the Lexington Institute?

its top 2 people are both Republicans

another think tank ... just what the world needs

Loren B. Thompson, 'a military expert', per the 'article' is its Chief Operating Officer ...

http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/biography/default.asp
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/

http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=2573

[leesa]

22. What garbage! Military people get paid crap and have poor benefits,

this money is being STOLEN by corporate pigs like Cheney. They don't even have bullets or armor!