The Costs of War: Tens of Thousands Dead, Billions Spent, and a Country Torn Apart
December 16, 2011 Democracy Now
“I think we need to ask, ‘Is the war really over?’ And the answer is really no.”
December 16, 2011 Democracy Now
“I think we need to ask, ‘Is the war really over?’ And the answer is really no.”
November 22, 2011 Vermont Standard
“The cost of caring for the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will reach $1 trillion within the next 30 or 40 years. It’s no wonder, just look at how many come home damaged…”
November 22, 2011 CNN World
“We cannot afford, literally, to focus exclusively on foreign affairs alone, as if the choices we make in relations to other nations don't have an impact on our ‘domestic affairs’ or our economy."
November 2, 2011 Metro
“To date, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in 236,000 deaths and a cost of $3 trillion to $4 trillion, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project. 2010 was the bloodiest year for the military since the Afghan war began.”
October 29, 2011 Al Jazeera
“A recent report from Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies estimated that the ultimate cost of both the Afghan and Iraq wars could range up to $4.4tn … those trillions don't include the global war on terror.”
October 24, 2011 Daily News
“Think how ludicrous it is that, last month, Republicans refused to release funds for disaster relief without budget cuts to pay for them, and yet, just a few years ago, they raised no objections to entering into two wars on credit, while cutting.”
October 20, 2011 The Guardian
“Since 9/11, the United States has spent an estimated $3.2 to $4tn, reports the Watson Institute, fighting these multiple wars and low- intensity conflicts throughout the Middle East and North Africa.”
October 18, 2011 RT
“With US national debt at some 15 trillion dollars, a potential $1 trillion in defense spending cuts on the table, and… the cost of war in Afghanistan and Iraq could reach some $4 trillion, does the American public have the stomach or the means to prosecute another war?”
October 7, 2011 Huffington Post
“The astonishing amount of money taxpayers have spent on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – an average of $130 billion annually – could have been better invested in efforts aligned with Americans' values, and in particular, job creation.”
October 1, 2011 New York Times
“The Pentagon has asked for another $5 billion next year alone for remotely piloted drone systems. Yet even those costs are tiny compared with the price of the big wars.”
September 19, 2011 Alakhbar English
“The report poignantly demonstrates that the loss in life among US military…is in fact around 32,000 when factoring in the number of US contractors, allied forces, and Iraqi and Afghan police who have died.”
September 14, 2011 Asia News Network
“The Brown project puts the wars’ ultimate cost … at up to US$4 trillion – equivalent to the country’s cumulative budget deficits for the six years from 2005 to 2010. Think of how many people that money could feed and school.”
September 13, 2011 Counter Punch
“Considering that all that spending was triggered by a ragtag group of airplane hijackers armed with box cutters on 9/11, something just doesn’t add up.”
September 10, 2011 CBS News
“[A]ll of the lost lives and dollars for Iraq were not even intended as remedy. But we have to ask ourselves: how did that happen, and how does it continue to happen?”
September 10, 2011 Pilot Online
“Of the roughly 2.3 million service members who have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… Many have deployed four, five or even six times – numbers that were unheard of before the attacks and subsequent wars.”
September 9, 2011 CBS News
“More than $800 billion dollars in Pentagon direct spending has gone towards the war in Iraq. … That’s a far cry from the Bush administration’s early estimate of between $50 and $60 billion dollars."