Omg..... Iraq War Price Tag Tops $100B!!!

[leftchick]

http://news4colorado.com/topstories/topstories_story_350073801.html

<snip>
But no one expected the world's most powerful military to be run ragged by an insurgency of perhaps 12,000 fighters armed with nothing more sophisticated than rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The cost has gone up each year and is expected to go up again next year when the Pentagon estimates it will need another $100 billion for the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

War, of course, is a wasteful business in which a multi-million dollar helicopter can be destroyed in the time it takes to launch a shoulder-fired missile. Humvees shot up in ambushes need to be repaired. Trucks with too many miles on them must be overhauled.

With no front lines and no lulls between battles, this guerrilla war is chewing up equipment at five times the normal rate.

... uh, bullfuckingshit no one predicted the cost!!! :grr:

[nolabels]

1. And going to .........................................over $200 billion.

USA > Military
from the December 17, 2004 edition

The rising tab for US war effort
Spending may increase by 25 percent next year, which could push total costs for Iraq and Afghanistan to over $200 billion.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – The grinding insurgency in Iraq continues to exert upward pressure on at least one important aspect of the US war effort: monetary cost.

Deployment of extra troops, plus the need for new armor and other changes to counter insurgent tactics, may increase war spending by at least 25 percent for fiscal 2005, say experts. The total cost of the US military effort in Afghanistan and Iraq through next year will almost certainly surpass $200 billion
(snip)
http://csmonitor.com/2004/1217/p01s01-usmi.html

[LoveCore]

2. Well I say goddamn...

Now doesn't shit like this make you want to kick all the righties in the teeth that claim dubya got the economy from Clinton in bad shape? Some people's loyalty to W's little pipe dream war really scare me.

[leftchick]

3. it really clarifies their mental capacities, dontcha think?

welcome to DU LoveCore!

[izzie]

5. Have they added in the new amount to get people into NG?

Nice they are paying so much more when they are not having any trouble getting people.

[OneTwentyoNine]

9. They just roam the hallways at High Schools looking for fodder...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2835232&mesg_id=2835259

[Ganja Ninja]

4. It's well over 100 billion already.

This is another 100 billion on top of what they've already spent.

[G_j]

6. $150,520,050,459 as of today

From the running clock at: www.costofwar.com

War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. This webpage is a simple attempt to demonstrate one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on our tax dollars.

The War in Iraq Cost the United States

$150,520,050,459

To the right you will find a running total of the amount of money spent by the US Government to finance the war in Iraq. This total is based on estimates from Congressional appropriations. Below the total are a number of different ways that we could have chosen to use the money. Try clicking on them; you might be surprised to learn what a difference we could have made.
=

"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

[OneTwentyoNine]

7. Try over 150 BILLION, 200 BILLION has already been budgeted..

http://costofwar.com/

It was over 100 billion before the election.

[G_j]

8. same thought

great minds and all... :-)

[OneTwentyoNine]

10. Yup,Cost of War is a pretty sobering web site....

[leftchick]

20. thanks for that link!

I actually had quit paying attention to the amount squandered a while ago and was shocked at 100 billion. I suppose it will be in the trillions when all is said and done! :(

[mmonk]

11. Those that predicted the costs were drowned out

Its their dogma, pure and simple. In their efforts to "starve the beast", they create one they don't mention because it cannabalizes our domestic programs.

[drscm]

12. Does this include the cost of those *Bush bribed to be a part of

the Coalition of the Willing?

[DS1]

13. Is there any news that doesn't earn an OMG anymore

This has been known for almost a year.

[G_j]

15. this particular story is very recent

the point of the posted article being a difference of $25 billion in what Bush originally told congress members before the election:

Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Boston Globe

War Funding Request May Hit $100 Billion
by Bryan Bender

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration plans to ask for between $80 billion and $100 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, rather than the $70 billion to $75 billion the White House privately told members of Congress before the election, according to Pentagon and White House officials.

<snip>

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-03.htm

[OneTwentyoNine]

16. Those BILLIONS could have provided 7.3 MILLION College educations

But its MUCH more important(read PROFITS)to illegally invade a country and kill innocent civilians.

[Deja Q]

14. Do we get a free collector's pen with that war? Worse is US incompetence.

x(

Russia had a powerful military in the 1980s while the Mujahedeen (Taliban) were beating the snot out of them.

Somehow the US thought that they could wipe out the Mujahedeen too.

Oops. Hubris has a way of doing that.

[chelaque liberal]

17. White House Economic Adviser Larry Lindsey was fired

for predicting that the war would cost $200 Billion, now he has been proven right.

This was the point of an NPR story yesterday, believe it or not.

[Lone_Wolf]

18. Funny how our public money becomes private money...

Our tax dollars pay for the war, while the Halliburtons and Carlyle Groups reap the profits...

[chelaque liberal]

19. Robert Byrd quote, May 2003:

On May 26th of 2003 the Washington Post quoted West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd as saying,

“The United States now spends more on defense than all other 18 members of NATO, plus China, plus Russia, and plus the remaining ‘rogue’ states combined. In an age when we talk about smart bombs and smart missiles and smart soldiers, any talk of smart budgets has gone out of the window.”