More On The Cost Of War
Yesterday, I posted on a new book which puts the total cost of the Iraq War at $3 trillion. In today's Boston Globe, Linda Bilmes (one of the authors of that book) has an op-ed piece which gives us a further taste of the book. Ms. Bilmes is a former assistant secretary of commerce and teaches public finance at the Harvard Kennedy School.
THE SIXTH year of the Iraq war begins this week. The war is now the second-longest in US history - longer than any except Vietnam. So far, 1.6 million US troops have served, more than a third of them for two or more tours of duty. Almost 4,000 US service personnel have been killed, and 60,000 wounded, injured or contracted a serious disease. Many survive with severe multiple injuries ("polytraumas") that in previous wars would have almost certainly ended in death.
One-third of the 780,000 troops discharged so far have been treated at veterans' hospitals and clinics, including 120,000 treated for mental health conditions and 68,000 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. This year alone the Department of Veterans Affairs expects to treat 333,000 returning veterans. The majority of these veterans will be eligible to receive lifetime disability compensation - 228,000 have already filed applications.
These statistics lay the foundation for the enormous financial cost of the war. Iraq is already the second-most expensive conflict, after World War II - a war that mobilized 16 million Americans and a massive nationwide war effort.
Ms. Bilmes points out that the "official" cost at this point for both Afghanistan and Iraq (which are usually linked in the "emergency appropriations" bills) is $600 billion, but even that figure is suspect. It covers only actual combat costs (combat stipends, transportation, equipment). She suggests that there are at least three other cost caches that never seem to get noticed when talking about the war.
The first are those costs buried in the Pentagon budget but which are directly related to the Iraq War. She includes the increasing costs of recruitment and training for the Army and Marines to offset the manpower shortages in this category. She also includes the benefits paid to private contractors for insurance and for benefits when their employees are injured in Iraq.
The second are those costs which haven't come to fruition yet, but surely will: those related to ongoing disability benefits for those soldiers who survive their ghastly injuries, but who will be affected by them for the rest of their lives. She estimates that close to half of all the personnel who served in Iraq will qualify for long-term disability compensation.
The third are those costs attendent to "fixing" the military: the replacement of worn out and damaged equipment and the restoration of personnel to the prewar state of readiness. As Ms. Bilmes points out, Congress might have been angry that Boeing didn't get the Air Force contract for refueling tankers, but nobody even blinked at the $35 billion price tag.
And that's how she and Mr. Stiglitz came to the $3 trillion figure which figures in the title of their book. But equally as important is what that money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan means for this country:
Beyond that, the war has weakened our economy, increased oil prices, and made it more difficult for us to fund road projects, schools, medical research, and other vital needs. Apart from the oil companies and a handful of defense contractors, the war has not stimulated the economy. This is because so much of what we spend in Iraq every month ends up in the pockets of Filipino and Nepali subcontractors in Iraq, and on fuel, laundry, and local housing costs - which have almost no benefit to the US economy.
Since that money came not directly from our treasury but was borrowed, we will be paying the interest on that debt for years to come, as will our children and our grandchildren.
And all for a war we were lied into.
THE SIXTH year of the Iraq war begins this week. The war is now the second-longest in US history - longer than any except Vietnam. So far, 1.6 million US troops have served, more than a third of them for two or more tours of duty. Almost 4,000 US service personnel have been killed, and 60,000 wounded, injured or contracted a serious disease. Many survive with severe multiple injuries ("polytraumas") that in previous wars would have almost certainly ended in death.
One-third of the 780,000 troops discharged so far have been treated at veterans' hospitals and clinics, including 120,000 treated for mental health conditions and 68,000 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. This year alone the Department of Veterans Affairs expects to treat 333,000 returning veterans. The majority of these veterans will be eligible to receive lifetime disability compensation - 228,000 have already filed applications.
These statistics lay the foundation for the enormous financial cost of the war. Iraq is already the second-most expensive conflict, after World War II - a war that mobilized 16 million Americans and a massive nationwide war effort.
Ms. Bilmes points out that the "official" cost at this point for both Afghanistan and Iraq (which are usually linked in the "emergency appropriations" bills) is $600 billion, but even that figure is suspect. It covers only actual combat costs (combat stipends, transportation, equipment). She suggests that there are at least three other cost caches that never seem to get noticed when talking about the war.
The first are those costs buried in the Pentagon budget but which are directly related to the Iraq War. She includes the increasing costs of recruitment and training for the Army and Marines to offset the manpower shortages in this category. She also includes the benefits paid to private contractors for insurance and for benefits when their employees are injured in Iraq.
The second are those costs which haven't come to fruition yet, but surely will: those related to ongoing disability benefits for those soldiers who survive their ghastly injuries, but who will be affected by them for the rest of their lives. She estimates that close to half of all the personnel who served in Iraq will qualify for long-term disability compensation.
The third are those costs attendent to "fixing" the military: the replacement of worn out and damaged equipment and the restoration of personnel to the prewar state of readiness. As Ms. Bilmes points out, Congress might have been angry that Boeing didn't get the Air Force contract for refueling tankers, but nobody even blinked at the $35 billion price tag.
And that's how she and Mr. Stiglitz came to the $3 trillion figure which figures in the title of their book. But equally as important is what that money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan means for this country:
Beyond that, the war has weakened our economy, increased oil prices, and made it more difficult for us to fund road projects, schools, medical research, and other vital needs. Apart from the oil companies and a handful of defense contractors, the war has not stimulated the economy. This is because so much of what we spend in Iraq every month ends up in the pockets of Filipino and Nepali subcontractors in Iraq, and on fuel, laundry, and local housing costs - which have almost no benefit to the US economy.
Since that money came not directly from our treasury but was borrowed, we will be paying the interest on that debt for years to come, as will our children and our grandchildren.
And all for a war we were lied into.
Labels: Iraq War
posted by Diane at 12:20 PM
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