Price only exceeded by World War II
"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," declared
President George W. Bush aboard the USS Lincoln in 2003. "In
the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have
prevailed."
Five years later, the Iraq war rages on.
According to two prominent economists, in a study the White
House has not disputed, the cost of the war now outpaces the
total price of the 12-year US conflict in Vietnam. It's now
nearly double the total cost of the Korean War.
The costs of maintaining a US presence in Iraq now runs a
tab of about $435 million a day -- $3 billion a week, or $12
billion a month. The US has siphoned some $500 billion taxpayer
dollars into Iraq, for a war that was supposed to be "sharp"
and brief. Interest payments add another $615 billion, and
the price tag of repairing a depleted military is projected
at $280 billion.
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Only World War II, in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars,
was more expensive, according to a recent study by Nobel laureate
economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University public finance
Professor Laura Bilmes. Both served in the Clinton administration.
Their price tag? $3 trillion. The White House has not disputed
the study.
Writing in the San Fransisco Chronicle today, Zachary Coile
draws on the study and compares it with the costs of previous
US wars.
Coile also includes a detailed
breakdown of the costs. They follow.
Costs of the war
-- $435 million: Cost of Iraq war each day.
-- $526 billion: Cost of combat operations to date.
-- $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion: Estimated Afghanistan and
Iraq combat costs through 2017.
-- $590 billion: Future costs of disability benefits and health
care for Iraq war veterans.
-- $615 billion: Cost of interest on money borrowed to pay
for the war.
-- $280 billion: Cost of replacing equipment and restoring
U.S. military to prewar strength.
-- $16,500: Cost of the war to each U.S. family of four from
2003-2008.
-- $36,900: Cost of the war to each family if the war continues
for 10 years.
-- $274 billion: Cost of increased oil prices related to the
Iraq war, 2003-2008. What $435 million per day could do
-- Enroll 58,000 children in Head Start.
-- Put 8,900 police officers on the street.
-- Provide health insurance to 329,200 low-income children.
-- Hire 10,700 Border Patrol agents.
-- Give Pell Grants to 163,700 college students.
-- Provide foreclosure prevention counseling to 260,000 families.
