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November 15, 2018
New Study
Details 'Staggering' $6 Trillion (and Counting) Price Tag of Endless US War
"The U.S. continues to fund the wars by borrowing, so this
is a conservative estimate of the consequences of funding the war as if on a
credit card."
commondreams.org/news/2018/11/15/new-study-details-staggering-6-trillion-and-counting-price-tag-endless-us-war
While
the human costs will remain impossible to calculate, a new analysis shows that
the Pentagon barely scratched the surface of the financial costs of U.S. wars
since September 11, 2001 when it released its official estimate last August regarding
how much the U.S. has spent on fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and
elsewhere.
The
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs reports (pdf) that by the end of the 2019
fiscal year, the U.S. will have spent $5.9 trillion on military spending in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other countries, as well as veterans' care,
interest on debt payments, and related spending at the Homeland Security and
State Departments.
Our
new estimate of how much the “war on terror” has cost since 9/11 is being
released today in an event hosted by Senator Reed on Capitol Hill. The grand
total: a staggering $5.9 trillion. Read the full report: https://buff.ly/2PS86wP
The
figure far exceeds the Pentagon's estimate of $1.5 trillion in total spending
since September 11—a number that does not even account for combined State Department
spending and the Pentagon's war fund, which totals $1.8 trillion according to the
Watson Institute.
"We
were told to expect wars that would be quick, cheap, effective and beneficial
to the U.S. interest," said Neta Crawford, the author of the
study, at a news conference hosted by Sen. Jack Reed
(D-R.I.) on Tuesday. "The U.S. continues to fund the wars by borrowing, so
this is a conservative estimate of the consequences of funding the war as if on
a credit card, in which we are only paying interest even as we continue to
spend."
Veterans'
healthcare, benefits, and disability spending alone has cost the U.S. $1
trillion, as nearly three million Americans have deployed to
countries including Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, many for numerous tours.
With
spending continuing at its current level, the study reads, Americans can expect
their government to spend more than $6.7 trillion on war by the end of 2023—not
including future interest costs.
"Moreover,
the costs of war will likely be greater than this because, unless the U.S.
immediately ends its deployments, the number of veterans associated with the
post-9/11 wars will also grow," Crawford wrote in the report.
The
Watson Institute's latest report comes days after another study detailing the
estimated death toll of the so-called "War on Terror." The Defense
Department reported on about 500 civilian deaths in 2017 in various U.S. wars
earlier this year and its website reports several thousands deaths of U.S.
soldiers since 2001—numbers the Watson Institute also found to be severely
underestimated as it reported about half a million deaths in
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan as a result of the U.S. invasions and
prolonged occupations of those countries.
"It's
important for the American people to understand the true costs of war, both the
moral and monetary costs," Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a statement.
"In sum, high costs in war and war-related spending pose a
national security concern because they are unsustainable," reads the
Watson Institute's report. "The public would be better served by increased
transparency and by the development of a comprehensive strategy to end the wars
and deal with other urgent national security priorities."
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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