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posted January 10, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.

 

Report: Iraq war costs could top $2 trillion

 

New study takes into account long-term costs of healthcare for wounded

soldiers.

 

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

 

A new study by Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who

won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, and Harvard lecturer Linda

Bilmes concludes that the total costs of the Iraq war could top the $2

trillion mark. Reuters reports this total, which is far above the US

administration's prewar projections, takes into account the long term

healthcare costs for the 16,000 US soldiers injured in Iraq so far.

" Even taking a conservative approach, we have been surprised at how

large they are, " the study said, referring to total war costs. " We can

state, with some degree of confidence, that they exceed a trillion

dollars. "

The higher $2 trillion amount takes a 'moderate' approach. Both figures

are based on the projection that US troops will remain in Iraq until

2010, with steadily decreasing numbers each year. The economists also

used government data from past wars, and included such costs as the

rise in the price of oil, a larger US deficit and greater global

insecurity caused by the war, the loss to the economy from injured

veterans who cannot contribute as productively as they would have done

if not injured, and the increased costs of recruiting to replenish a

military drained by repeated tours of duty in Iraq. These are items

which are almost never included by the US government when determining

the cost of the war.

 

Before the war started, Mitch Daniels, then the White House budget

director, had said the war would be an " affordable endeavor " and

rejected an estimate by the chief White House economic adviser that the

war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion as " very, very

high. "

 

The Office of Management and Budget " does not comment on this type of

speculation, " said spokesman Rich Walker. Reuters also reports that a

Marine Corps spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Roseann Lynch, said Monday that the

war is costing the US about $4.5 billion a month in military " operating

costs, " not including procurement of new weapons and equipment. Colonel

Lynch said the war in Iraq had cost $173 billion to date.

 

Stiglitz has been an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq. He was an

adviser to President Bill Clinton and also served as chief economist at

the World Bank. Bilmes was a former assistant secretary of Commerce in

the Clinton administration. The BBC reports that Stiglitz himself says

that there will be some people who will dismiss his estimates as based

on his opposition to the war.

 

The Boston Globe reports, however, that despite his view, Stiglitz is

not considered to be outside the mainstream.

 

" Stiglitz rants against globalization, and generally barks louder than

he bites, " said Timothy Kane, an economist at the conservative Heritage

Foundation in Washington. " That is, he is a champion to the lefties,

but never really says that free trade is bad. "

But an editorial in the Brattleboro Reformer of Vermont argues that

even if the Stiglitz-Bilmes estimates are exaggerated, it obvious that

the war in Iraq is going to cost the American taxpayer far more than

the Bush administration first said it would.

Conservatives are already pooh-poohing these figures, and the Bush

White House will not comment on them. But it is more than clear that

even if a plan was put on the table right now for a phased withdrawal

from Iraq over the next 12 months, Americans will still be paying the

heavy human and economic costs of this war, the largest and most

expensive military engagement since Vietnam. We can't undo the mistake

of invading Iraq. But we can confront the cost of doing so and have a

realistic plan for paying for it.

Time magazine notes that " even as the economic toll worsens, there is

some good news on the human front. " According to Army data obtained by

the magazine that have not yet been officially released, there were

8,367 divorces in 2005, down from 10,477 in 2004. It's still higher

than before the war, but the lower figure shows that the programs, put

into place by the military to help spouses deal with the pressures of

long deployments and then reentry into the country, are showing signs

of making a difference.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/dailyUpdate.html

 

 

 

 

" Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England,

nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the

leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter

to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship,

or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ... Voice or no voice, the people

can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have

to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for

lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any

country. "

- General Herman Goering, President of German Reichstag & Nazi Party, Commander

of Luftwaffe