The cost of the Iraw and Afghan Wars may be $2.4 TRILLION.

Parent Cafe
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<p>this thread isn’t going far because it is simply too painful to talk about. no reason. no humor. no defense. no alternatives. much, much easier to analyze SAT strategies.</p>

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<p>There is an alternative. End it.</p>

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<p>Easier said than done. Not happening before Jan 08 so why bother talking about it now. I just hope we won’t be talking about ending the Iran war at that time.</p>

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<p>If anyone had read the article in the link, you would see that the 2.4 trillion is a PROJECTED cost through the year 2017. That is not the cost to date, as some seem to think.</p>

<p>What would you guess about the economic cost of 9/11? $20 billion? $100 billion? </p>

<p>How about $843 billion, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/badguys/061025/the_cost_since_911_1.htm[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/badguys/061025/the_cost_since_911_1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you read this link, the study includes a cost of $310 billion for the war in Iraq. Even the article in the link says,

</p>

<p>According to this article <a href=“http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_buzzcharts/buzzcharts200601230854.asp[/url]”>http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_buzzcharts/buzzcharts200601230854.asp&lt;/a&gt;

</p>

<p>I’m not saying that $400 billion is a trivial amount of money. But it’s not $2.4 trillion. When we see such bizarre numbers tossed around, it seems like a good idea to me to ask how they come up with these numbers. 2% of GDP to prevent another 9/11?</p>

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<p>Also much of the money spent gets recycled through the US enonomy. The soldiers and private security guys get paid and most will spend the money in the USA. Virtually all the equipment they are chewing up is made in US plants which will be paying americans overtime to keep up with the demand for new Humvees and uniforms and guns and everything else. Yes, some of it is getting spent rebuilding Iraq and on buying gods and services in country but the majority will flow back home.</p>

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<p>I know it is a projected cost. Who said it wasn’t?</p>

<p>Barrons, your arguments are nonsense. Of course some people get paid. They didn’t burn the money.</p>

<p>The amount is obscene. The social security problem wouldn’t exist with that money. Or we could have used the money for health care, or alternative energy. We don’t have the money for the above. We do have the money for the invasion of Iraq.</p>

<p>We were lied to about how much the war would cost. Our priorities are mixed up.</p>

<p>Iraq was not involved in 9/11. We haven’t stopped terrorism.</p>

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<p>Simply amazing that some will keep dishing out those tired arguments. I thought even Cheney had stopped trying to link the war to 9/11. I guess you <em>can</em> fool some of the people all of the time.</p>

<p>2% of GDP to create more 9/11 attacks is more like it.</p>

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<p>I did not say that 9/11 led to the war in Iraq. I posted a link to an article in which the total cost of the attacks on 9/11 included the costs of the war in Iraq. </p>

<p>So take out those costs, and the cost of 9/11 is still $250 billion. Does anyone think we would have gone to war if there hadn’t been intelligence regarding the presence of WMD in Iraq? I don’t – regardless of whether or not there were WMD in Iraq at some point, the attacks of 9/11 were a factor in the decision to go to war. That’s very different from saying that Iraq was directly involved in 9/11.</p>

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<p>“Does anyone think we would have gone to war if there hadn’t been intelligence regarding the presence of WMD in Iraq? I don’t – regardless of whether or not there were WMD in Iraq at some point, the attacks of 9/11 were a factor in the decision to go to war. That’s very different from saying that Iraq was directly involved in 9/11”</p>

<p>That’s some fine dancing there, sjmom. Are you sure you’re not Darth Vad-- I mean Dick Chaney – in disquise ? ;)</p>

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<p>That’s a rather rude comment, katliamom. I was simply trying to explain myself in a way that was easier for others to understand. I won’t bother again.</p>

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<p>I didn’t mean to be rude. The language you used amused me because it’s very circuitous, of the “define the meaning of ‘is’” variety, and reminiscent of the language used by Dick Cheney, et al., to justify the invasion of Iraq. But if I offended you, I apologise.</p>

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<p>“So take out those costs, and the cost of 9/11 is still $250 billion. Does anyone think we would have gone to war if there hadn’t been intelligence regarding the presence of WMD in Iraq”</p>

<p>YES! Waving his hands wildly! There was NO intelligence about any ongoing WMD programs, or working stockpiles. It was a fanciful creation of Clinton/Tenet in January 1998, constructed to cover up 1) their crimes against humanity (a million dead, half of them children), 2) to cover up the fact that the CIA was indeed using the UN weapons inspections teams to plant spies (they were, and were found out), and 3) their attempt to have the military overthrow Saddam Hussein (through the Defense Minister, who Bush is now trying hard to have executed despite opposition from the Iraqi Government) having failed, to justify the largest saturation bombing of any country since Viet Nam (which took place in December 1998, after the U.S. kicked out the weapons inspectors, who said they couldn’t find anything there.)</p>

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<p>dstark, I was simply pointing out what many people fail to realize. The money is not burned or simply thrown away. It supports many US jobs and families just as if it had been spent on a new welfare program or higher SS benefits or any other program you can mention. I’m not saying it was the best choice but it’s not that much more wasteful than many government programs that have yielded dubious benefits. I recently heard that up to around 20% of Medicaid funding is wasted through outright fraud. That’s around $65 Billion a year and permanent.</p>

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<p>mini, I think I’d need to see some supporting evidence of your statements. I believe that there WAS intelligence, which may or may not have been flawed. There may have been WMD, which was moved to another location – Syria, perhaps. I do not and never did like the Clinton administration. But I have this extreme skepticism about the ability of anyone in government to really keep a secret.</p>

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<p>By the way, speaking of wasted money, as of 2004 Americans blew $54 billion annually on gambling and $110 billion on drug abuse.</p>

<p>Starbucks 2006 revenues were $7.8 billion.</p>

<p>So, between gambling, drugs and lattes, the US spends around $172 billion. It’s not like we’re so good at how we spend money in this country.</p>

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<p>"mini, I think I’d need to see some supporting evidence of your statements. I believe that there WAS intelligence, which may or may not have been flawed. "</p>

<p>None. Zero. Zilch. The weapons inspectors said there was evidence of weapons programs in the past, and evidence of weapons that had been destroyed, but no evidence of ongoing programs anywhere. And they tried to get it from independent sources: infiltrating the UN inspection program - NADA. Communicated with the Iraqi Defense Minister (who they hoped would defect, and overthrown Saddam Hussein). Zero. </p>

<p>I can’t “prove a negative”. There’s nothing to prove. We know about the half a million dead children - Albright admitted it. We know about the spies in the inspection program - they were all kicked out of the country. We know about the contacts with the Defense Ministry. That is well written about. And we know about the lies - I’ve posted the response to the lies from Gore, Lieberman, Levin, Biden, etc. multiple times. And we know about the December 1998 bombings.</p>

<p>I’ve shown you mine. Now show me yours.</p>

<p>Folks of course can get away with lies for a long time. Colin Powell went on national tv with maps, etc. in 1991, showing where all of Iraq’s 20 missile bases and all the missile bases destroyed. It gained him popularity and a promotion. Only problem was, when the weapons inspectors went in, they discovered that the U.S. hadn’t hit a single one. He reprised his lies with the U.N. presentation - we all saw the ice cream trucks, and chemical weapons depot, and darn if there weren’t found out to be out and out lies by a semi-amateur reporter within 48 hours. He still runs around with his reputation intact for some. </p>

<p>Madame Mendaciousness lied about the “rendition” program, and the holding of suspects in foreign prisons. She was found out to be the liar that she was too. Some folks think that qualifies her for the Presidency. </p>

<p>Why do you think lying is that difficult, and that discovering that lies have been told makes so much difference?</p>

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<p>It is not the government that spends taxpayer dollars on gambling, drugs, starbucks. </p>

<p>The entire annual budget of the National Institute of Health (which funds life-saving medical research all over the country, employing thousands and thousands of researchers and paying for a lot of college student research projects, BTW) is $28 billion. </p>

<p>George Bush is likely to veto a bill that funds a slight increase in that budget. </p>

<p>At the same time he demanded Congress to rubber stamp about $40+ billion more that will fund another few months of this war.</p>

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<p>

Duh. I just mentioned these items as a point of comparison.</p>

<p>mini, here’s mine.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/28/sprj.nirq.wmd.kay/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/28/sprj.nirq.wmd.kay/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

It’s not exactly good news that the intelligence was so wrong – but I don’t see anyone deliberately misleading Congress or the President.</p>

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<p>sjm:
Just a few of the articles, widely published internationally and nationally, about the LACK of WMD in Iraq – and our brilliant administration’s knowledge of that fact – BEFORE the invasion. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/25/sprj.nirq.kay/[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/25/sprj.nirq.kay/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6190720/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6190720/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3718150.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3718150.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/06/bush_wmd/index_np.html[/url]”>http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/06/bush_wmd/index_np.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I see no reason to continue this discussion, it is serving no purpose. </p>

<p>I just pray that someone will be able to stop this administration from forcing us into a war on Iran.</p>