The Trillion Dollar War

“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/opinion/20bilmes.html?ei=5070&en=53b1099708a36c0e&ex=1125288000&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

August 20, 2005
The Trillion-Dollar War
By LINDA BILMES
Cambridge, Mass.

THE human cost of the more than 2,000 American military personnel killed and 14,500 wounded so far in Iraq and Afghanistan is all too apparent. But the financial toll is still largely hidden from public view and, like the suffering of those who have lost loved ones, will persist long after the fighting is over.

The cost goes well beyond the more than $250 billion already spent on military operations and reconstruction. Basic running costs of the current conflicts are $6 billion a month - a figure that reflects the Pentagon's unprecedented reliance on expensive private contractors. Other factors keeping costs high include inducements for recruits and for military personnel serving second and third deployments, extra pay for reservists and members of the National Guard, as well as more than $2 billion a year in additional foreign aid to Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and others to reward their cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill for repairing and replacing military hardware is $20 billion a year, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office.

But the biggest long-term costs are disability and health payments for returning troops, which will be incurred even if hostilities were to stop tomorrow. The United States currently pays more than $2 billion in disability claims per year for 159,000 veterans of the 1991 gulf war, even though that conflict lasted only five weeks, with 148 dead and 467 wounded. Even assuming that the 525,000 American troops who have so far served in Iraq and Afghanistan will require treatment only on the same scale as their predecessors from the gulf war, these payments are likely to run at $7 billion a year for the next 45 years.

All of this spending will need to be financed by adding to the federal debt. Extra interest payments will total $200 billion or more even if the borrowing is repaid quickly. Conflict in the Middle East has also played a part in doubling the price of oil from $30 a barrel just prior to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to $60 a barrel today. Each $5 increase in the price of oil reduces our national income by about $17 billion a year.

Even by this simple yardstick, if the American military presence in the region lasts another five years, the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States.

Linda Bilmes, an assistant secretary at the Department of Commerce from 1999 to 2001, teaches budgeting and public finance at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.”

“August 23, 2005
The Saved-Lives War
By Sarge
Pennsylvania

THE human factor of saving hundreds of thousands of lives by our brave men and women in the military is obviously worth the cost involved to anybody who has a heart, a conscience, and a brain. Nevertheless, there are those who complain that there money is being used to save people from evil dictators, or worse yet, deny they were worth pursuing in the first place.

These people go well beyond denying reality. They also deny the threat of global terrorism. They would rather wait it out than to have to shell out money from their greedy pockets from money they would rather be spend on public libraries, football stadiums at their local high schools, and PBS.

But one of the biggest costs is the division they create as heroic soldiers return home and have to listen to their crying. It makes their fight all the braver, yet these people are so selfish they have no clue.

Conspiracy theories abound, these people will stick to Democratic talking points like glue.

Even with all their complaining, there are many fine Americans who see first hand the good that America does and are willing to ignore their blatant ignorance to get the job done.

Sarge, frequent contributor to trailtalk, learned what he learned in real life and not just from a blatantly liberal classroom.”

“After reading my morning dose of Sarge I rest my case.”

“solitary hiker -> wants to save his money

Sarge -> wants to save human life

You can rest any case you want to solitary hiker. You're a sick/selfish character.”

“Sarge, an escaped mental patient from Blue Balls, Pennsylvania, is still being sought by the Pennsylvania Sanitarium For The Criminally Insane.”

“You're a sick/selfish character.

No kidding - have you seen his rants on the zionist conspiracy? Mentally ill...”

“Uncle Sam wants YOU!!!”

“How much do you suppose the "insurgency" has cost?
How much money does the "insurgency" have?
How long do you think they have to keep this up, to bankrupt the USA?
Do you think this just might be their strategy?”

“no.”

“Truth is neither racist or anti-Semitic. When you want to talk Zionist conspiracy with me, bring your facts and numbers to the table.”

“Truth is neither racist or anti-Semitic.

Sure, but you are.”

“How much money have the "defense" contractors made?

How much money do we have to pour down that rat hole to fill it up?”

“FWIW, I read a magazine story ( I forget which) that stated the "contractors" made > $600 per day, and that a large percentage of them were foreign nationals.”

“The label doesn't intimidate anymore.”

“i was just sitting here thinking, man, trailtalk just doesnt have enough threads about the war in iraq. thank god somebody finally had the courage to do something about that.”

“Ve haff her der Sarge vay uf safink lifes. Der more you kill der more you safe. Is simple math, ja?”

“FWIW, I read a magazine story ( I forget which) that stated the "contractors" made > $600 per day, and that a large percentage of them were foreign nationals.”
le Subtil
12:06:48 PM
8/24/05

I looked into doing security or electrical reconstruction a year ago. The pay varied from $80k-$120k annually depending on the company, this included airfare and some modest accomadations. I wasnt sure if the "employee" had to pitch in for food and other misc costs or not. The biggy is the tax free status all overseas income has.”

“To bankrupt the US? A-Ha....No. The insurgency isn't smart enough to do something that complex. Could it be that all these random-seeming acts of civilian terror attracts lots of world media attention, which upon the terrorists then blaming the US, gives us a bad rap.

Let's not forget one thing here: the primary motive behind any type of terrorism is always a cry for some sort of political attention, be it Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, Ireland, or where ever.”

“To bankrupt the US? A-Ha....No. The insurgency isn't smart enough to do something that complex.

I'm beginning to believe some of these morons can't even comprehend what they read.”

“"I looked into doing security or electrical reconstruction a year ago. The pay varied from $80k-$120k annually depending on the company, this included airfare and some modest accomadations. I wasnt sure if the "employee" had to pitch in for food and other misc costs or not. The biggy is the tax free status all overseas income has.”

Plane Ticket to Baghdad: Free
Living accommodations: Free
Guns and Ammo Free: Free
Having Islamofasists dance around your charred remains as they hang from a bridge in Falujha: Priceless”

“The label doesn't intimidate anymore.

Who cares - it's not a label, it's a fact.”

“No, that's the excuse you use every time I bring up topics you'd prefer no one ever mention.”