Iraq war will cost more than World War II (Afghanistan, weapons, Obama)

[KRAMERCAT]

Iraq war has cost more than $800 billion since 2001; Afghan war, $467 billion plus.

President Obama’s announcement that all US troops will be out of Iraq by year end should mean some drop in ongoing military spending.

But the budget relief probably won’t be as much as you might expect.

Tragically, beside the financial cost, there is the human toll. The war in Iraq has resulted in some 4,480 US troops killed and more than 32,000 wounded.

(The Iraqis have suffered far more fatalities, about 654,965, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.)

Thus, ongoing medical and disability claims and treatment of US veterans will boost the costs of the Iraq war even more.

Throw in the replacement of vehicles, weapons, equipment, etc., and the eventual tab for the United States could reach $4 trillion to $6 trillion, according to University of Columbia economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University budget expert Linda Bilmes. Those are big numbers.

Iraq war will cost more than World War II - CSMonitor.com

[Bostonian123]

But according to the neo-cons Obama is a socialist and is surrendering in Iraq.

[rogerbacon]

The Iraq front, not war, in the ongoing War on Terrorism should cost a lot more than WW2. For one thing, we have not been on the gold standard in a long time so inflation has been ongoing. Even if you use constant dollars to factor out inflation it should cost more because it has lated twice as long. Finally there is the cost in comparable weapons. An irn bomb is cheap while a laser guided one is not. If you want to drop iron bombs and carpet bomb cities it would probably be cheaper but would kill miollions of non-combatants like happened in WW2. The bottom line is that we should not be complaining about the cost of the war but we should be demanding we get our money's worth in the form of a country that will be a stonger supporter of human rights for ALL people and not just Muslims. We got our money's worth in post-war Japan and Germany. I don't think the same will be said about Iraq and Afghanistan in the years to come.

[Frank DeForrest]

Well it has gone on for twice as long as WWII.

Originally Posted by Bostonian123

But according to the neo-cons Obama is a socialist and is surrendering in Iraq.

yeah Obomba is a astute peacemaker who relys on diplomacy and not drones lol

[oberon_1]

I was shocked to learn that the administration tried in the last minute to EXTEND our stay in Iraq.
But thank God, it is over and that's the most important thing. It is finally over.