Article

2006-08-12 Home Front: WoT

Five Years of War on Terror Has Cost $437 Billion

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Posted by ed 2006-08-12 12:17|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 So? In ten years we will have spent 4,370,000,000,000 (proj).

Did we get value for $95 billion per year? So far we have not seen a repeat of 9/11. What price freedom?

Posted by john">john 2006-08-12 12:38|| 2006-08-12 12:38|| Front Page Top

#2 Just a quick question, and I think it is the relevant one; How much MORE have we spent on defense than was projected for our defense budget BEFORE the invasion. IIRC, we were spending huge sums already on the no fly zone, etc. How much more does this cost us, both in absolute dollar terms and as percentage increase from baseline?

Posted by Mark E. 2006-08-12 12:52|| 2006-08-12 12:52|| Front Page Top

#3 Which is why this "nation-building" sh!t has got to end. We must now enter a phase of "breaking things." Something our armed forced are well-equipped to do and do quite nicely at that. If we can, somehow, establish Iraq (and possibly Afghanistan) as bastions of democracy in this woebegotten region, well and done. But enough of fooling ourselves that we can implement some sort of Mid-East Marshall Plan. We have neither the treasure nor troops required for such a vast undertaking.

Therefore, now is the time to begin fragmenting and decapping those governments who seek to do us harm. Iran tops the list well beyond all other rogue regimes. Syria needs its dose of the backwash ensuing there from. A strong lesson needs to be taken from the current situation with Israel and Lebanon. Shortly enough, we will see that NOBODY besides Israel is open to any peaceful solution. That said, very unpeaceful solutions need to be laid at the feet of Israel's and our own foes.

Posted by Zenster 2006-08-12 16:29|| 2006-08-12 16:29|| Front Page Top

#4 I can't find the link now, but I recall that the estimated cost of 9/11 (less than several hours duration) cost the US around $90 billion.

If we need to spend $90 billion per year to prevent $90 billion damage in a day, then it seems like a outstanding investment.

Posted by WTF 2006-08-12 17:01|| 2006-08-12 17:01|| Front Page Top

#5 Interesting thoughts there Zenster. The US breaks Iran (there's history there) and then the 'international community' sits down and tries to rewrite the map and pays for the reconstruction. Works for me...

Posted by Tony (UK) 2006-08-12 17:32|| 2006-08-12 17:32|| Front Page Top

#6 As for the Homefront, jihadi fronts continue to use our freedoms against our security. We have to close all the loop holes that enable terrorists to escape justice, including impediments to investigative detention. Arrests must be allowed even where suspicion is at a low threshold, and all suspect contacts - internet, phone, direct contacts, etc - and related witnesses, must be interrogated before the suspect is released. Of course, detained suspects should not be main-lined in penitentiaries pending charge-sheeting or release. Detained persons are innocent until proven guilty. But they should be kept in custody until the case to meet test is made.

Posted by Snease Shaiting3550 2006-08-12 18:55|| 2006-08-12 18:55|| Front Page Top

#7 Hush Mark E., we don't do variable costs.

Posted by The US Government 2006-08-12 19:30|| 2006-08-12 19:30|| Front Page Top

#8 Make invoice out to Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Posted by newc">newc 2006-08-12 21:13|| 2006-08-12 21:13|| Front Page Top

#9 Zen, we have argued over nation building for at least a year, I have been a proponant of nation building. I'm getting to the point where we need to break things at the megaton level is the only viable solution. The pandering and lack of political will to do what is necessary has gotten us to the point where we must destroy Iran and Syria if we are to live in some form of peace for the next 100 years. All the worries over the poor innocent muzzies is or should be wiped away by the desire for democracy's survival.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-08-12 22:39|| 2006-08-12 22:39|| Front Page Top

#10 The sum mentioned comes to about 4% of one year's economic output, which is about 0.8% a year. This is pretty cheap. In WWII, we spent 50% of economic every year fighting the Axis Powers. This means that on an annual basis, we spent over 60 times as much as a proportion of our economy during WWII as during the War on Terror. The casualty count is also way lower - we've taken 6,000 civilian and military dead over 5 years, whereas we took 400,000 civilian and military dead over less than 4 years during WWII.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2006-08-12 23:07|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2006-08-12 23:07|| Front Page Top

#11 The cost of our losses on 9/11 was at least $500 billion.

Uniquely skilled people died, buildings were destroyed, aircrafts were lost and others had to be made safer, stock prices went down... Add the increased need for security controls, the time wasted by tens of millions at airports, insurance policies, the economic slow-down, all the people hired to work as security guards instead of building better cars, computers, furniture, etc.

When someone breaks a window, the money spent repairing it could have been used towards more productive or rewarding purposes.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2006-08-12 23:20|| 2006-08-12 23:20|| Front Page Top

00:00 mcsegeek1
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