The Real Cost of the Iraq War

The occupation of Iraq has come at a high cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as of July 2007, approximately $421.4 billion of our taxes has been allocated to the war in Iraq and another $180 billion to Afghanistan and other Defense department needs since September 2001. The Bush administration is currently spending at a rate of between $10 billion to $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq¹. That would mean that through the end of September 2007, the total spent on the war in Iraq alone would be $441 billion. Moreover, CRS projects that by the end of September 2008, we will have spent $566.7 billion on the war².

With the money spent on the Iraq War we could have:

With one day of Iraq War funding we could have:

Sent 60,284 high school graduates to four fully-funded years at public universities. [4]⁹
Hired 7,030 new public school teachers.¹⁰

With one year and 10 days of Iraq War funding we could have:

Repaired the entire system of navigable inland waterways. [2]¹¹

With 10 months of Iraq War funding we could have:

Improved our bridges, roads, and transit infrastructure. [2]¹²

With six months of Iraq War funding we could have:

Insured 2,666,666 children¹³ under the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (S-CHIP). [5]¹⁴

With four months of Iraq War spending we could have:

Made the $39.5 billion in needed repairs to the infrastructure of all segments of civil aviation. [2]¹⁵

With one month of Iraq War spending we could have:

Made the $10 billion in repairs to the most critical levees and dams. [2]¹⁶

With the money from four weeks of the Iraq War we could have:

Replaced every cent lost by Enron employees. [6]^{17, 18}

For more about what the Iraq war has cost the nation, not just in dollars but in our security and well-being as a nation, and the principles upon which to build an alternative security policy, read our newly updated Straight Talk on Real Security [7].

1 Sunshine, Robert A. CBO Testimony: Estimated Cost of US Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Activities Related to the Global War on Terror. Committee on Budget, U.S. House of Representatives. 31. July 2007. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=8497&type=0 [8].

2 Belasco, Amy. The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11. 16 July 2007. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf [9].

3 As of September 2007.

4 Nagin, Ray. Citizens Recovery Update. New Orleans Mayor’s Office. 12 Sept 2006. http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/Resources/100_Days.pdf [10]

5 Total damage estimates from Katrina are around $100 billion.

6 American Society of Civil Engineers. An Action Plan for the 100th Congress. Accessed 5 Sept 2007. http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm [11]

7 Nichols, Len. A Sustainable Health Care System for All Americans. July 2007.New America Foundation. http://www.newamerica.net/files/NSC%20Health%20Policy%20Paper%207-12-07.pdf [12]

8 Estimates of the cost of providing universal health care range from $110 to $240 billion per year.

9 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004-05 and 2005-06 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2004, Fall 2005, Spring 2005, and Spring 2006. Table 320. Average undergraduate tuition and fees and room and board rates charged for full-time students in degree-granting. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/xls/tabn320.xls [13]

10 The 2007 Statistical Abstract. Education: Elementary and Secondary Education: Staff and Finances. Table 241. Average Salary and Wages Paid in Public School Systems: 1985 to 2005 http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/07s0241.xls [14]

11 American Society of Civil Engineers. An Action Plan for the 100th Congress. Accessed 5 Sept 2007. http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm [11]

12 Ibid.

13 18 and under

14 Iglehart, John K. The Battle Over SCHIP. New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 357:957-960. Number 10. 6 September 2007. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/10/957 [15]

15 American Society of Civil Engineers. An Action Plan for the 100th Congress. Accessed 5 Sept 2007. http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm [11]

16 American Society of Civil Engineers. An Action Plan for the 100th Congress. Accessed 5 Sept 2007. http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm [11]

17 Sarah Harding and Christian Weller. Retirement Made Riskier: House pension bill, Treasury proposal ignore the real problems. Economic Policy Institute. Issue Brief #189. 9 April 2003. http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib189 [16]

18 It is estimated that over $1 billion in losses were suffered by the employees of Enron. The scandal occurred due to changes in federal regulations during the conservative Congress of the early and mid-90’s.

Links:
[1] http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/katrina
[2] http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/blog/rick_perlstein
[3] http://www.ourfuture.org/healthcareforall
[4] http://www.ourfuture.org/issues_and_campaigns/education/index.cfm
[5] http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/blog/bill_scher
[6] http://straighttalk.ourfuture.org/economic-prosperity/economy/index.html
[7] http://straighttalk.ourfuture.org/real-security/realsecurity/index.html
[8] http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=8497&type=0
[9] http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
[10] http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/Resources/100_Days.pdf
[11] http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm
[12] http://www.newamerica.net/files/NSC Health Policy Paper 7-12-07.pdf
[13] http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/xls/tabn320.xls
[14] http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/07s0241.xls
[15] http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/10/957
[16] http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib189