Iraq War: Very Expensive Indeed
“At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government,” the New York Times reports. Now, five years later, “the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting.”
Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say that $1 trillion to $2 trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the American occupation continues.
Congressional Democrats fiercely criticize the White House over war expenditures. But it is virtually certain that the Democrats will provide tens of billions more in a military spending bill next month. Some Democrats are even arguing against attaching strings, like a deadline for withdrawal, saying the tactic will fail as it has in the past.
But, some argue, one has to differentiate between short-term and long-term costs. “The relevant question now is: what do we do now going forward? Because we can’t do anything about the costs that have already happened,” Scott Wallsten, an economist and vice president of research with iGrowthGlobal, a Washington research institute said. “We still don’t hear people talking about that.”
And Dana Perino, Press Secretary, said: “None of these calculations take into account the cost of failure in Iraq. Should Al Qaeda have safe haven in Iraq, we are more likely to be attacked again on our homeland. We know the cost of that.”
It seems to me that we can say several things:
1. The Bush administration greatly underestimated the costs of the war. That’s inexcusable. Especially if you pretend to be a conservative.
2. That money isn’t Bush’s money, it’s tax payers’ money. It’s, therefore, a very serious issue.
3. Much of the money has already been spent and one needs to take into account what happens if you withdraw prematurely: will that results in more attacks, regional instability, etc. which will create even more costs than when the US would stay as long as it takes to bring stability to Iraq?
4. They need to give some real information on how much this project is going to cost America.
5. Since the costs are so high, the US should try to get other countries involved. This means that the US will have to give those countries something back; which isn’t something it was willing to do in the first few years of the war (all contracts for instance went to American businesses).
6. How much is success worth? And… how much is too much in order to save, potentially, hundreds of thousands of lives?
600 billion? Try a figuire many times that amount. The decline of the dollar alone and the economic nose dive the war has caused far outweigh that figuire. But hey, at least Exxon and other Oil Companies are enjoying the highest profits in corporate history!