Is The High Cost Of Wars The Biggest Threat To U.S. National Security?

An Afghan child waves a flag at a member of coalition forces as he patrols to a medical clinic led by Afghan national security forces in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, March 12, 2013. Coalition and Afghan forces held the clinic to promote improved security, governance and development. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Kruger

Biggest Threat to U.S. National Security: Wars -- Danger

In 2004, Osama bin Laden explained how his terrorists were going to win its struggle against a vastly more powerful adversary: al-Qaida sought to “blee[d] America to the point of bankruptcy.” Bin Laden is dead and his organization is a shadow of what it once was. Yet a new paper from a Harvard lecturer suggests that he had a point.

Linda J. Bilmes of the Harvard Kennedy School estimates that the wars bin Laden provoked the U.S. into launching over the past decade have cost “somewhere between $4 and $6 trillion.” She reaches that staggeringly high total by calculating not just what the U.S. spent on fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also what it will spend on veterans’ health care and benefits; equipment refurbishment; future commitments made to the Iraqi and Afghan governments the U.S. sponsors; and the repayment of the debt incurred by financing the wars through foreign borrowing. Notably, by Bilmes’ framework, the real costs of the wars will only manifest long after the troops have come home.

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My Comment: Osama Bin Laden did have a point when he stated that his intention was to "bleed" the U.S. dry. But one can also make the case that losing wars can also become a threat to U.S. national security.

What Is The True Cost Of The Iraq And Afghan Wars?

Iraq and Afghanistan Will Cost Trillions in the Future -- Matthew Yglesias, Slate

Kennedy School professor Linda Bilmes finds that the all-in costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will measure in the $4 trillion to $6 trillion range when all is said and done. But that's not the most terrifying element of her survey of the fiscal impact of the "war on terror" and related undertakings. What should really strike fear into your heart is her finding that "the largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid."

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Previous Post: Iraq War Costs U.S. More Than $2 Trillion

My Comment: Mother Jones did their own analysis on the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars. As to what is my take .... stay away from "wars of choice".

Costs Of War

Costs of War: 225,000 Lives and up to US$4 Trillion from Watson Institute on Vimeo.

225,000 Killed, $3.2 - 4 Trillion -- Costs Of War

The President of the United States has told the American people and the rest of the world that even as the U.S. withdraws some troops from Afghanistan and continues to withdraw from Iraq, the wars will continue for some years. The debate over why each war was begun and whether either or both should have been fought continues.

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My Comment: An interesting web site .... if you have the time, browse through it.

The Cost Of War In Iraq And Afghanistan -- A News Roundup

The sun sets behind U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jamie R. Johnson, a platoon sergeant assigned to Bayonet Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, as he patrols Afghanistan's Kunar province, March 17, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell

Was Obama Low-Balling The Cost Of War? -- Robert Zeliger, Foreign Policy

The price tag for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since the 9/11 attacks is somewhere between $3.7 and $4.4 trillion, according to a new report released today. The staggering figure is nearly four times higher than the U.S. government estimate. Just last week, President Barack Obama pegged the cost over the last decade at $1 trillion.

The new estimated cost provided by a research project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, is also much higher than most previous attempts to quantify the operations.

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More News On Brown University's Watson Institute For International Studies On The Cost Of Our Wars

Afghanistan, Iraq Wars Killed 132,000 Civilians, Report Says -- The Danger Room
U.S. cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting -- Reuters
New estimate of U.S. war costs: $4 trillion -- Washington Post
Report: Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Cost US Nearly $4 Trillion -- Voice of America
Study: US war spending could top $4 trillion -- Al Jazeera
New Estimate For The Cost Of U.S. Wars: About $4 Trillion -- NPR
Wars to Leave $4 Trillion Hole in US Budget: Study -- Wall Street Journal
Costs of U.S. war on terror up to 4.4 trillion U.S. dollars: report -- Xinhuanet
Price of U.S. wars: $4.4 trillion? -- Politico
FACTBOX-Highlights of "Costs of War" research -- Reuters
'War on terror' set to surpass cost of Second World War -- Independent

The Cost Of America's War

U.S. Marines depart a checkpoint and patrol back to Forward Operating Base Geronimo, Afghanistan, May 30, 2010. The Marines are assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mark Fayloga

The True Cost Of The War On Terror: $3.7Trillion And Counting… And Up To 258,000 Lives -- The Daily Mail

The cost of U.S. military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will run to at least $3.7trillion, a study has revealed today.

The staggering figure could reach as high as $4.4trillion, with the deaths of up to 258,000 people, according to research by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.

In human terms, 224,000 to 258,000 people have died directly from warfare - including 125,000 civilians in Iraq.

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Update #1: U.S. cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting -- Reuters
Update #2: FACTBOX-Highlights of "Costs of War" research -- Reuters

My Comment: For me .... the true cost of the war has been this, and we will now have to live for the rest of our lives with this.

The War Against Bin Laden Has Cost $3 Trillion Over 15 Years

The Cost Of Bin Laden: $3 Trillion Over 15 Years -- National Journal

Osama bin Laden cost America more than any villain, ever—which is exactly the way he wanted it.

The most expensive public enemy in American history died Sunday from two bullets.

As we mark Osama bin Laden’s death, what’s striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we’ve gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.

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My Comment: While this number is staggering, what is troublesome is that much of Al Qaeda still exists, and all that it will take is another 9/11 (or worse) to increase and escalate this cost. This war is not over by any means .... and I sometimes wonder (and shudder) over the idea that after so much death and destruction, this long war may just be starting.

Should We Change How We Budget For War?

Michael Pannone, right, teaches firearms and tactics to U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team on Fort Bragg, N.C., March 23, 2011. Pannone is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who teaches weapons and tactics skills. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

The $1 Million Soldier: What's Wrong With How We Budget War -- CNN

The two-week-old military action in Libya has prompted a frenzy of headlines and sound bites about the operation's cost.

Can the United States afford it?

The short answer is "yes." The defense budget exceeds $500 billion a year, so the Pentagon has money on hand to pay for Libya.

But that's not the whole story. The recent events in Libya have opened up a long-standing and important debate about how we pay for our wars and military endeavors around the world.

The crux of the problem is that in recent years, Congress has paid for wars through emergency supplemental bills. At the same time, other defense costs were allowed to spin out of control.

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My Comment: I am skeptical that there can be savings in the defense budget by shifting how it is funded .... i.e. funding the wars not by a s supplemental budget but as a part of the defense budget itself. The bottom line is that wars .... today .... are very expensive endeavors. And number crunching and shifting of monies from one part of the budget to another part will not bring the savings that they hope for.

Fighting Wars Is Not A Cheap Proposition

The War: A Trillion Can Be Cheap -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — Like everything else, war is a lot more expensive than it used to be.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost Americans a staggering $1 trillion to date, second only in inflation-adjusted dollars to the $4 trillion price tag for World War II, when the United States put 16 million men and women into uniform and fought on three continents.

Sticker shock is the inevitable first reaction to the latest statistics on the costs of all major United States wars since the American Revolution, compiled by the Congressional Research Service and released late last month, and the figures promise to play into intensifying political and economic pressures to restrain the Pentagon budget.

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My Comment: Not fighting them can eventually be even more expensive.

Comparing The Costs Of America's Major Wars

Costs Of Major U.S. Wars Compared -- Secrecy News

More than a trillion dollars has been appropriated since September 11, 2001 for U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. This makes the “war on terrorism” the most costly of any military engagement in U.S. history in absolute terms or, if correcting for inflation, the second most expensive U.S. military action after World War II.

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My Comment: The Congressional Research Service's full report is here.