Cost of the War?
Posted by
lauren
Posted on: 04/24/08
Cost of the War?
So, my teenage son returns from school and asks, "What's the Iraq war cost?" Now, me being an Internet sort of fellow, I said no problem, I'll just go find out. So, I went on the old 'internets' as my son calls it (the cool teenage word for it) to see what I could find. With all the numbers flying around from the politicos I thought it might be hard to find facts you could trust, but it's not all that hard. The hard part is to try to put it into some sort of perspective. So, with a nod to 'Harper's Index' I put together a list of costs - dollars, people, that sort of thing.Then I showed it to my son.
The first words out of his mouth were 'Jesus Dad, What can we do about it all of this?'
Somewhere along the line, as I went merrily around the web looking at statistics for the number of deaths, orphaned kids, billion dollar contracts, refugees, and soldier suicides due to the war, I had completely turned off connecting with what it really meant to all the people involved, something my son, without the callousness that comes of over exposure, had seen instantly.
The best I could do was tell him 'We'll figure out something', and in his world ranting doesn't count (as it shouldn't).
So, having taken all the fun out of it, I give you the following. Feel free to let me know what I should do.
Number of wars more expensive than the Iraq war: 1 (WWII)
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of Korean War: 2:1
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of Vietnam war: 3:2
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of WW1: 2:1
Estimate by Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz of total cost of war in 2002: $60 billion
Current projected cost: $3 Trillion (missed it by that much)
Cost per week of the war: $3.5 billion
Percentage of this spent on the troops: 10%
Percent spent on war contractors: 50%
Value of Halliburton contracts 2003 - 2006: 17.2 Billion
Number of private contract employees in Iraq: 180,000
Amount per week spent on "death gratuities" (payments to families of troops killed in action: $2.4 million
Money spent by Iraqi and Kurdistan Governments on lawyers, lobbyists and consultants to represent them to the U.S. Government: $22,000,000
Increase in cost of a barrel of oil attributed to the war in Iraq: $10
Amount this has increased the cost of the war: $50 billion
Cost of a barrel of oil in March 2003: $33.51
Cost of a barrel of oil on March 17, 2008: $105.68
Sales by ExxonMobil,Shell and BP of petroleum products to the Pentagon from 2003 to 2007: $14.9 billion
Percentage increase in value of ExxonMobil stock from 2003 to 2008: +254%
Iraq population: 27,000,000
Iraq civilian deaths: 142,000
Iraqi insurgents deaths: 55,000
Number of Iraqis who have left the country since the start of the war: 2 million
Number of Iraqis 'Internally displaced' (nice word for lost their homes): 1.9 million
Percentage of Iraqi refugees that are children: 50%
Number of Iraqis granted U.S. refugee status since the start of the war: 800
Number accepted by Australia: 16,000
Number of U.S. orphans: 115,000
Number of hours Baghdad homes have electricity per day: 5.6
Number before the war: 20
Increase in rate of Iraqi malnutrition since the start of the war: 9%
U.S. Military killed since beginning of war: 4492
Iraqi police and soldiers killed: 8,145
U.S. soldiers killed that under 25 years old: 2200
Number of Iraqi civilians killed under that age: 35,000
U.S. Military wounded: 31,590
Non-combat related wounded: 60,000
Number of times the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment has been sent to Iraq: 5
Number of Iraq war veterans seeking care for mental health disorders, not included in official wounded reports: 120,049
Percent change in insurgency strength since 2003? +460%
Global increase in yearly jihadist attacks outside of Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003: 30%
Percentage in world survey of 26,000 people that disapproves of the U.S. handling of the Iraq War: 73%
Percentage of Iraqis who believe coalition forces are responsible for improvement in security: 1%
Out of 10 Americans number who want U.S. to stay in Iraq: 4
Number out of 10 Iraqis who do: 3
Percentage of Iraqis that think that U.S. presence is "provoking more conflict than it's preventing": 78%
Amount U.S. gives in developmental aid to foreign countries per day: 22 cents per person
Percentage of GDP that U.S. gives in foreign aid: .16%
Percentage given by Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway and Netherlands: .7% (that's about 4 1/2 times as much as the U.S. just in case you cared)
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of Korean War: 2:1
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of Vietnam war: 3:2
Ratio of cost of Iraq war to Cost of WW1: 2:1
Estimate by Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz of total cost of war in 2002: $60 billion
Current projected cost: $3 Trillion (missed it by that much)
Cost per week of the war: $3.5 billion
Percentage of this spent on the troops: 10%
Percent spent on war contractors: 50%
Value of Halliburton contracts 2003 - 2006: 17.2 Billion
Number of private contract employees in Iraq: 180,000
Amount per week spent on "death gratuities" (payments to families of troops killed in action: $2.4 million
Money spent by Iraqi and Kurdistan Governments on lawyers, lobbyists and consultants to represent them to the U.S. Government: $22,000,000
Increase in cost of a barrel of oil attributed to the war in Iraq: $10
Amount this has increased the cost of the war: $50 billion
Cost of a barrel of oil in March 2003: $33.51
Cost of a barrel of oil on March 17, 2008: $105.68
Sales by ExxonMobil,Shell and BP of petroleum products to the Pentagon from 2003 to 2007: $14.9 billion
Percentage increase in value of ExxonMobil stock from 2003 to 2008: +254%
Iraq population: 27,000,000
Iraq civilian deaths: 142,000
Iraqi insurgents deaths: 55,000
Number of Iraqis who have left the country since the start of the war: 2 million
Number of Iraqis 'Internally displaced' (nice word for lost their homes): 1.9 million
Percentage of Iraqi refugees that are children: 50%
Number of Iraqis granted U.S. refugee status since the start of the war: 800
Number accepted by Australia: 16,000
Number of U.S. orphans: 115,000
Number of hours Baghdad homes have electricity per day: 5.6
Number before the war: 20
Increase in rate of Iraqi malnutrition since the start of the war: 9%
U.S. Military killed since beginning of war: 4492
Iraqi police and soldiers killed: 8,145
U.S. soldiers killed that under 25 years old: 2200
Number of Iraqi civilians killed under that age: 35,000
U.S. Military wounded: 31,590
Non-combat related wounded: 60,000
Number of times the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment has been sent to Iraq: 5
Number of Iraq war veterans seeking care for mental health disorders, not included in official wounded reports: 120,049
Percent change in insurgency strength since 2003? +460%
Global increase in yearly jihadist attacks outside of Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003: 30%
Percentage in world survey of 26,000 people that disapproves of the U.S. handling of the Iraq War: 73%
Percentage of Iraqis who believe coalition forces are responsible for improvement in security: 1%
Out of 10 Americans number who want U.S. to stay in Iraq: 4
Number out of 10 Iraqis who do: 3
Percentage of Iraqis that think that U.S. presence is "provoking more conflict than it's preventing": 78%
Amount U.S. gives in developmental aid to foreign countries per day: 22 cents per person
Percentage of GDP that U.S. gives in foreign aid: .16%
Percentage given by Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway and Netherlands: .7% (that's about 4 1/2 times as much as the U.S. just in case you cared)
Brookings Institute
Dean Baker, Co Director Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Center on Law and Security NYU School of Law
FY 2008 Global War on Terror Pending Request Office of the Secretary of Defense
(CIA World Factbook)
0Vote!
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Hi Lauren! I'd say the only thing we can do right now is VOTE all the crazies that allowed these items to become fact OUT of office!!! Although, I'll have to keep ranting too, I suppose! -
Hi Lauren, Great article Lauren. My father (your brother Stewart) sent me to your site and I'm hooked. I started my own page to help spread the word of Riverbend here in New England. How do I insert a photo gallery like the one on Ellie's page? I hope all is well! best, Aaron Caswell
lauren
just the usual
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