Study: Iraq War Cost U.S. $2.2 Trillion, Claimed Nearly 200,000 Lives

[spanone]

A new report by the “Costs of War” project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies finds that nearly 200,000 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in the war in Iraq President George W. Bush launched 10 years ago.

The report also found that American taxpayers will ultimately spend roughly $2.2 trillion on the war, but because the U.S. government borrowed to finance the conflict, interest payments through the year 2053 means that the total bill could reach nearly $4 trillion.

“Nearly every government that goes to war underestimates its duration, neglects to tally all the costs, and overestimates the political objectives that will be accomplished by war’s violence,” said Boston University professor of political science and project co-director Neta C. Crawford.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/03/14/1721961/study-iraq-war-cost-2-triillion/?mobile=wt

[snot]

1. Was the Lancet study that far off?

I'm really confused by all the different figures I've seen re- the numbers of deaths.

And anyone who supposed the "underestimating" is unintentional is dreaming.

[RainDog]

2. suicides from soldiers Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld lied into war

this year exceeds the number of deaths by soldiers in combat this year.

This is the legacy of the neocons.

They should be tried for crimes against humanity.

[moondust]

3. 4 trillion

"because the U.S. government borrowed to finance the conflict, interest payments through the year 2053 means that the total bill could reach nearly $4 trillion."

I don't see any good reason why anybody in Congress at the time could not have pursued and found out the truth about Iraq and WMD before the invasion--and done whatever necessary to stop it. Therefore, I say let the fools, jackasses, and craven profiteers who voted for the IWR assume personal responsibility for this debt.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

4. and all the teabaggers who now shriek about wasteful spending of their 'hard-earned tax dollars'

were too busy burning Dixie Chicks albums and slapping yellow ribbon magnets on their cars to listen to the wisdom of folks like senators Paul Wellstone and Robert C. Byrd, who tried to warn the nation about committing such a massive blunder.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Probably has something to do with the whole 'dropping bombs on brown people' being ok to them.