Costs of New War in Iraq and Syria Set to Explode, say Analysts

[JEB]

Short informative read.

by
Lauren McCauley


http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/01/costs-obamas-new-war-iraq-and-syria-set-explode-say-analysts

excerpt>
The U.S. government's new war in Iraq that now also includes Syria has already cost American taxpayers between $780 and $930 million, and could amount to over $1 billion a month if U.S. efforts intensify on the scale demanded by war hawks in Congress, according to a think tank analysis published this week.

excerpt>
The irony, as Middle East scholar Juan Cole points out on Tuesday, is that the costly drums of war are being beaten by the same Congress that in February slashed $8.7 billion from federal food stamp funding.

Cole writes: "[T]he same people who have trouble justifying a safety net for the working poor and find it urgent to cut billions from the programs that keep us a civilized society rather than a predatory jungle—the same people have no difficulty authorizing billions for vague bombing campaigns that are unlikely to be successful on any genuine metric."

[liberal N proud]

1. When you wait to bomb a country, the cost go up

Should have done it when it was cheaper.

[yeoman6987]

9. The next President is fucked before even getting started

Money for this war and Afghanistan until 2024. Talk about bills before Inaugural Day. I would never want to be the President of the United States. Funny because as a kid I thought it would be kinda cool. No thank you.

[valerief]

2. Those bastards who own their clowns in Congress are raping democracy. nt

[JEB]

3. Money we could have used to make us strong & secure

by fixing bridges and educating our people. Instead we will further weaken our country with more unproductive military spending.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Congress hasn't voted on the ISIS/Syria strikes.

Care to restate?

[valerief]

8. Nope. They're raping democracy by all their social service cuts, state funding cuts,

lack of jobs programs, etc. But there's always money for WAR and the too big to fail banks.

[yeoman6987]

10. Congress hasn't even opened the purse strings yet

How are we paying it so far?

[valerief]

11. Cute.

[logosoco]

4. I am no economist, and I sure don't understand the ways of war, but this is outrageous.

This isn't even a battle against that large of a force. Is this what WWII cost in today's dollars?

Does this figure include the future care that these vets may require?

And how in the hell, when our country has broken it's spine i.e. a healthy middle class, can we do this at all?

[JEB]

5. The empire is eating itself.

[JEB]

6. Also from the article.

NPP, which has spent over thirty years tracking the cost of war, adds that in exchange for the conflict, our nation has sacrificed lives as well as "our own social and economic potential, as we sunk over a trillion dollars into war while investing less in our domestic needs (such as addressing our crumbling infrastructure, revitalizing the job market, or reducing the burden of student loan debt)."