US Post 9/11 Wars ‘Budget’ Approaching $6 Trillion

[charrob]

The US is up to its neck in the quagmire of war and since 9/11 its oxymoronic “war on terror” has cost almost $ 6 trillion to maintain. This shocking budgetary analysis has been released by the Watson Institute at Brown University as part of their “Costs of War” project.

The following article from the Military Times has summarised the main points of the report:

“Overseas combat operations since 2001 have cost the United States an estimated $4.3 trillion so far, and trillions more in veterans benefits spending in years to come, according to the latest analysis from the Costs of War project.”

Author of the report Neta Crawford states:

“But the research includes another $880 billion in new base defense spending related to combat efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan since 2001, as well as about $780 billion in boosted Department of Homeland Security costs in that time frame.

Veterans spending has increased by almost $300 billion so far as a result of those conflicts, and future spending on those benefits over the next four decades is estimated to top $1 trillion more.

Crawford noted that all of the costs could rise with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to boost U.S. end strength in Afghanistan.

“There is no end in sight to the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the associated operations in Pakistan,” she wrote.”

http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/11/0...ng-6-trillion/

[phill4paul]

“Iraq is a very wealthy country. Enormous oil reserves. They can finance, largely finance the reconstruction of their own country. And I have no doubt that they will.”

Richard Perle, chair
The Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board
July 11, 2002

“The likely economic effects [of a war in Iraq] would be relatively small…. Under every plausible scenario, the negative effect will be quite small relative to the economic benefits.”

Lawrence Lindsey
White House economic adviser
September 16, 2002

“It is unimaginable that the United States would have to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars and highly unlikely that we would have to contribute even tens of billions of dollars.”

Kenneth Pollack
former director for Persian Gulf affairs
National Security Council
September 2002

“The costs of any intervention would be very small.”

Glenn Hubbard
White House economic adviser
October 4, 2002

“Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”

Ari Fleischer
White House press secretary
February 18, 2003

“When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community.”

Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
March 27, 2003

“There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be US taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”

Paul Wolfowitz
Deputy Secretary of Defense
testifying before the defense subcommittee
of the House Appropriations Committee
March 27, 2003

“The United States is very committed to helping Iraq recover from the conflict, but Iraq will not require sustained aid.”

Mitchell Daniels, director
White House Office of Management and Budget
April 21, 2003


https://www.thenation.com/article/wh...self-they-did/

[dannno]

[enhanced_deficit]

We can't put a price tag on Freedom in general and on our freedom to finance ocuupation of Palestinians that may have been related to WTC1/2/7 attacks.

[charrob]

//

[Zippyjuan]

Estimate includes "Future Obligations through 2056"?

[charrob]

Estimate includes "Future Obligations through 2056"? Guess they are counting all military pensions for the next 40 years?

Not pensions and only GWOT veterans:

"Estimated Future Obligations for GWOT Veterans Medical and Disability 2019 - 2056: $1 trillion

Everything else is through FY2018. So if you want to just include through FY2018, then their price of the GWOT would be approaching $5 trillion. Also GWOT Veterans Medical and Disability will not end in 2056... these monies will be extracted from the U.S. taxpayer for the rest of their lives... And, as pointed out, because Trump has now expanded the war in Afghanistan, these amounts will likely increase...