The cost of the Iraq war alone is estimated at $1.3 trillion from 2002 to 2008. That would cost $16,500 for a family of four. Add Afghanistan in and the cost to a family of four rises to $20,900.
The report estimated that both wars would cost $3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017. Under that scenario, it would cost a family of four $46,400, the report said.
The new report assumed the U.S. would withdraw about half of its present combat troops from Iraq by 2013 and maintain 75,000 soldiers there from 2013-2017. To date 3,860 U.S. troops have been killed and 38,164 wounded in Iraq.
The White House's estimate of the financial cost of these wars is over $700 billion. Assuming the truth lies somewhere between those two numbers, let's imagine the financial cost of war is $1 trillion.
One trillion dollars, according to the most recent publications, would be enough to pay for 53 years of federal health care, housing assistance, substance abuse prevention and disease research for HIV/AIDS sufferers.
A trillion dollars would be 66 times the amount needed to rebuild all the damaged New Orleans levees and 81 years of funding for the recently vetoed State Children's Health Insurance Program. A trillion dollars would pay for about 3,000 miles of subway expansion in Los Angeles, the nation's most polluted city.
As Vice President Cheney beats the drums for war against Iran, let's ask ourselves if this is how we want to squander our precious human and financial resources.
{loadnavigation}
