What Did We Buy With the $5 Trillion That the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Have Cost Us?
Posted on Sep 13, 2016
A Boston U. political scientist estimates that as of 2016, The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have cost the American taxpayers $5 trillion. That number isn’t important when we consider the human cost– Some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead who wouldn’t otherwise be, 4 million displaced and made homeless, etc.
Just to put that $5 trillion in perspective. Let’s say you chose five individuals. Each of the five will spend $10 million a day. That’s the cost of Heidi Klum’s mansion. They’d be buying the equivalent of five of those each day.
They’ll do that every day of their lives. All five of them. And then each of them will be succeeded by one their children, who will spend $10 million dollars a day, and one of their grandchildren, and one of their great-grandchildren, until 270 years have passed and it is the year 2286. That’s the equivalent of a star date for Captain Picard of the Enterprise.
Neat Crawford, a professor of Political Science at Brown University published the study for Brown University’s Watson Institute.
Professor Crawford writes:
“As of August 2016, the US has already appropriated, spent , or taken on obligations to spend more than $ 3 . 6 trillion in current dollars on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria and o n Homeland Security ( 2001 through fiscal year 2016 ) . To t his total should be added the approximately $6 5 billion in dedicated war spending the Department of Defense and State Department have requested for the next fiscal year, 2017 , along with an additional nearly $3 2 billion requested for the Department of Homeland Security in 2017, and estimated spending on veterans in future years . When those are included , the total US budgetary cost of the wars reach es $4.79 trillion.”
The US has spent $1.7 billion for combat and reconstruction. I have a sinking feeling that first they spent half of it on destroying things and then they spent the other half on rebuilding them.
Through 2053, the US government owes the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans $1 trillion in medical and disability payments along with the money to administer all that.
Crawford adds,
“Interest costs for overseas contingency operations spending alone are projected to add more than $1 trillion dollars to the national debt by 2023. By 2053 , interest costs will be at least $7.9 trillion unless the US changes the way it pays for the wars.”
Of 2.7 million military personnel who served in those two theaters, 2 million have now left the military and have entered the Veterans Administration system. Some 52,000 of them were wounded in action and many need care.
Because the Bush administration borrowed money to pay for the wars, we’ve paid half a trillion dollars in interest alone.
At least al-Qaeda had been based in Afghanistan. Iraq had had nothing to do with September 11. It was Bush’s invasion that brought al-Qaeda there, which later morphed into ISIL.
We were lied into that war, and it has weakened our economy. If anyone can tell me what benefits that war brought the average American, I’d like to hear it.
The Iraq War was a government-led Ponzi scheme and as usual the little people are the ones who took a bath.
The same people that Hillary Clinton and her ilk can’t stand.
ReplyDeleteContinuing my medical argument with Dr. Quirk -
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on here......
.....Who believes that diagnosis of "pneumonia" "on Friday" ?
American Horror Story
by Frank Johnson
9/13/2016
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/09/american_horror_story.html
Doctors Weigh In on Hillary’s Health
Deleteby John Hayward12 Sep 20161,847
Dr. Jane Orient, the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, and a number of callers who identified themselves as doctors called into Monday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM to offer their opinions on Hillary Clinton’s collapse Sunday morning.
Dr. Orient referred to reports that Clinton has a blood clot near her brain, noting that anti-coagulant medication prevents clots from spreading, rather than dissolving those which already exist.
“Does she have a residual problem getting blood out of her head, which causes high pressure on your brain?” Dr. Orient asked.
“It’s not like having a swollen ankle. Your brain doesn’t really have any room to swell,” Dr. Orient said. “And this can cause serious problems. So we’re dealing with a lot of episodes that look strange, that appear to be intermittent and transient, but that could be related to these old problems, and we just don’t have the type of information that would allow anyone to come to a conclusion about whether she is neurologically disabled or not.”
Dr. Orient called the diagnosis of pneumonia, announced to the public on Sunday afternoon but reportedly delivered by Clinton’s doctor on Friday, “kind of odd.”
“Generally, a doctor will not say, well, it’s perfectly okay for you to go outside, to a very crowded event, two days after she’s diagnosed with pneumonia,” she noted.
LISTEN:
Other callers into Monday’s show who identified themselves as doctors also offered their opinions to Breitbart Editor-in-Chief and SiriusXM host Alex Marlow, who has regularly invited medical professionals to call into the show.
A caller named Andrew who identified himself as a stroke neurologist who has worked with patients who have blood-clot diagnoses similar to Clinton’s mentioned that the former Secretary of State has also suffered from blood clots in her legs, requiring a lifelong course of anti-coagulant medication.
Delete“My largest concern is, you see her having these spells of near-falling and then stumbling as we saw yesterday. If she is on these blood thinners for life, she’s a very high risk, if she were to strike her head, to have massive — even life-threatening — hemorrhage in her brain, which could leave her with a lot of damage, or even death,” he said.
Andrew recommended additional testing, including an EEG brain wave test and more neuro-cognitive testing, “to be sure she’s not having intermittent seizures.”
“We’ve seen her have these episodes of staring, and with the history of potential brain injury, there’s potential scarring, which can then cause these seizures to occur,” he said.
A caller named Eric who identified as an ear, nose, and throat doctor said that Clinton’s fall on Sunday was a “neurological event,” either from the brain or brain stem, “which would be consistent with her previous history of the fall and then the blood clot.”
“It would also be consistent, let’s say, with her cough — which, if it’s affecting the brain stem, which would go all the way down to, let’s say, cranial nerve 10, which supplies sensation to the throat, which would give you that irritating cough on and off,” he added.
“What you saw yesterday was very, very serious, and people better start taking this seriously,” Eric said. “This is big time now. This is really, really big time, so I hope that somebody really gets after this.”
He recommended having a neurologist or neurosurgeon take a look at Clinton, study her past history, and determine if “this was a progressive event,” perhaps even “something like Parkinson’s, or some sort of more degenerative disease.” He said such a determination would require a “full workup,” including MRIs, physical exams, and neurological studies.
“What you saw was not even remotely close to pneumonia,” Eric said firmly, citing his own experience at dealing with upper-respiratory infections. “That was an immediate event that caused, obviously, a complete, almost like paralysis of her lower extremities. It’s insulting to not only physicians in the people that saw that, but also to everyday folks.”
“I do teach occasionally. If I had a medical student tell me that was pneumonia, I would have asked them to go back to school. Go back to the library, because you obviously are clueless,” Eric said....
http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/09/12/doctors-weigh-in-on-hillarys-health/
Dr. Quirk really doesn't have a medical degree.
DeleteHe just runs a fly-by-night internet 'clinic' that sells "potions" to the unsuspecting.....
Ready to say 'Uncle', Old Timer ?
Delete.
DeleteYou friggin moron, you missed the point of my Drudge post. Since Sunday, you have been running balls out on this story. You must have put up 25 posts or more. You cite every alt-journal from DRUDGE to American Thinker to Mad Magazine. You have speculated on every illness from stroke to seizure and beyond yet you reject anything that has been put up by the Hillary camp. Hell, why don't you just post the chapter from Web MD on possible reasons for feinting out and put us out of our misery.
EVERYONE knows Hillary has been sick in the past. EVERYONE knows she has done some rather bizarre things during this election. EVERYONE will make their own decision on her and her health (unless she dies before the election of course). Any medical information released by her (or by Trump for that matter) will be pablum, trinkets to pacify the natives.
In the end you are bound to be right. Hell, you have listed every illness known to man. What you've done in three days it would take the National Inquirer six month of extensive and concentrated speculation to come up with.
Damn, you are annoying.
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DeleteThat is, damn, you are annoying when you go off on one of your 'investigative' crusades.
Having run out of pathologies to speculate on, I expect you will next be talking about body doubles emerging from Chelsea's apartment or clones manufactured by the Clinton Foundation programmed to walk straight and give stump speeches.
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DeleteUncle?
I would gladly say 'uncle' if I really thought it would shut you up. Unfortunately, I fear that would only encourage you.
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I recall the estimates by Wolfowitz of the cost of the Iraq War to oust Saddam as being maybe a billion or two....
ReplyDeletePaying the Costs of Iraq, for Decades to Come
The wars are ending; the obligations, just beginning now
A little over 10 years ago, George W. Bush fired his economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, for saying that the total cost of invading Iraq might come to as much as $200 billion. Bush instead stood by such advisers as Paul Wolfowitz, who said that the invasion would be largely "self-financing" via Iraq's oil, and Andrew Natsios, who told an incredulous Ted Koppel that the war's total cost to the American taxpayer would be no more than $1.7 billion.....
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/paying-the-costs-of-iraq-for-decades-to-come/274477/
Wolfowitz went off to a job at The World Bank, IIRC.
Now the latest is that Kerry is a crook.
ReplyDeleteyes, another day, and another scandal for the dims. The H and the -> in Hillary's logo is actually directions to the hospital!
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteREPORT: John Kerry State Dept Funneled MILLIONS To His Daughter's Nonprofit...DRUDGE
ReplyDeleteLet's face it, Bar Mates, we just got the wrong jobs.
We should be in profitable nonprofits.
EXCLUSIVE: John Kerry’s State Department Funneled MILLIONS To His Daughter’s Nonprofit
Deletehttp://dailycaller.com/2016/09/12/exclusive-john-kerrys-state-department-funneled-millions-to-his-daughters-nonprofit/
Photo of Ethan Barton
Ethan Barton
10:03 PM 09/12/2016
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/12/exclusive-john-kerrys-state-department-funneled-millions-to-his-daughters-nonprofit/#ixzz4K9Ug7Wog
ANYONE SMELL A RAT HERE?
ReplyDeleteIncomes in the U.S. surged in 2015, delivering the first increase for family households in eight years.
The median annual household income—the level at which half are above and half are below—rose 5.2% from a year earlier, or $2,800, after adjusting for inflation, to $56,500, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
The boost leaves household incomes around 1.6% below the 2007 level, before the last recession began. But the 5.2% annual gain is the largest such increase since the Census Bureau began releasing such data in 1967.
The official poverty rate in 2015 was 13.5%, down 1.2 percentage points from 14.8% in 2014, the report added.
The latest figures show how several years of robust growth in employment have finally helped a broad swath of the nation improve living standards—after several years of either flat incomes or sustained declines.
The gains were spread broadly, with nearly all age groups, household types, regions and racial or ethnic groups seeing increases. One exception: Incomes didn’t rise for households living outside of metropolitan areas.
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DeleteAnd yet, we are still not back to the level of 2007. After 8 years.
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ReplyDeleteA grim anniversary: 15 years after 9/11, the war against radical Islamist terrorism is not looking good
Imagine it's 15 years ago, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. You are told that in September 2016, a couple of major counterterrorism victories would be just around the corner. These impending victories are that a coalition of countries, including the U.S., are on the verge of retaking the Iraqi city of Mosul and Syrian city of Raqqa from jihadists.
To put it mildly, it would be obvious that something had gone horribly wrong in the U.S.'s fight against Al Qaeda and associated movements...
The article goes on to provide a summary of how al Queda, a small group centered in Afghanistan, has over the past 15 years morphed into the hundreds of jihadi groups around the world including ISIS, the countries they have spread to, and the costs in blood, treasure, prestige, and more the US has incurred pursuing the WOT.
I have described the US efforts in the WOT as felony incompetent. The author offers a slightly milder opinion...
Each American error is costly. A mistaken understanding of the world can cause the U.S. to lurch into places it never should have gone, and miss opportunities to counter the enemy's moves.
Unfortunately, a look at the intersection of analytic error and policy failure leaves us in the same place where we were 15 years ago. The United States does not understand the enemy well enough, and this impedes our ability to craft effective policy.
Good policy can only emerge from a solid understanding of the adversary. We still do not have that.
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ReplyDeleteWhy the US Establishment and US War Criminals Fear and Loathe Trump
The only reason they have to fear Trump is that when he dips his beak he takes big drinks. They fear having to cut him in on the scam.
In the beginning, Trump talked about cutting the military and avoiding foreign interventions. I believe his LATEST position is screw sequestration, increase defense spending, On 2007, on Syria and Iraq he said the US should cut its losses and get out. A couple years ago, he said intervention in Iraq and Syria was a major mistake. Now, in what I believe is his latest position he says the US should invade Iraq/Syria and take out both ISIS and the oil.
Trump's positions are like the weather in Michigan. If you don't like any particular one, wait a couple hours and it will change.
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DeleteWhy the US Establishment and US War Criminals Fear and Loathe Trump
The headline from Deuce's lead article.
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They fear him because he's batshit crazy, and, as selfish as they are, they still love, and fear for, their country.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they love or fear for their country. They do love their little play house and fear Trump will tear it down. Your girl is a congenital liar, as William Safire put it way back in 1996. She is lying to all the low information voters who get told how to vote, all the useful idiots with their hands out, and she is lying to YOU.
DeleteI'm with Quirk:
ReplyDeleteBob should publish information released by the Hillary Camp.
Go to the Source, say I.
What could be more reliable?
My theory, however, is that her head is so full of lies that they are putting pressure on her brain.
ReplyDeleteBob:
ReplyDelete"Numerous conservative websites are reporting on the fact that prior to Hillary’s possible seizure and collapse at the 9/11 ceremony, she was wearing a pair of cobalt blue sunglasses. They note that Z1 cobalt blue lenses manufactured by Zeiss, are known to have a preventive effect on seizures associated with epilepsy and are widely used for that purpose. Such lenses block most of the red spectrum of light, that part considered most likely to induce seizures in people who have photo-sensitivities associated with neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s which share some common symptoms."
===
Nonsense,
These wackos are trying to distract and disuade Hillary from wearing these high fashion round cobalt blue lenses because they make her look so HOT, and so "normal."
(Like all the rest of us normies wearing round, cobalt blue lenses.)
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DeleteRight, that or in the daylight people have started to notice the opaque, empty look in the eyes of all those Hillary clones that were developed by the Clinton Foundation in their secret labs in the caves below Hope, Arkansas in order to mask her fatal fall, an explanation recently emerging from the casino floors of northwest Idaho.
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J
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DeleteDo appreciate the info on the Zeiss Z1 glasses though. In recent years, I've started to get migraine headaches on occasion if exposed to especially bright lights. For instance, I wear dark glasses when having any dental work done due to the bright light they use.
I will be googling those Zeiss glasses.
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Turn up the Nitrous.
Delete.
DeleteI go cold turkey.
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I must admit, she kind of had that "Ozzie Osborn" look.
ReplyDeleteplastered like a real rock star!
DeleteI wonder why she hired a fatass nurse instead of a skinny, healthier one?
ReplyDeletehttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsHCKprVUAAfIRW.jpg
Have you ever danced on Dancing With The Stars, Doug ?
ReplyDeleteJust been wondering that, for some reason.
No, but I flew over to Kauai with my new girlfriend and took a dive:
Deletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3787536/California-daredevil-takes-200-foot-plunge-Hawaii-waterfall-rescued-tourists-impact-knocks-out.html
http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/this-is-crazy/article_1d84b4ca-cdae-5e59-86ab-02ce1a5a7ea1.html
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/09/13/19/384ED0AA00000578-3787536-image-m-57_1473792026061.jpg
Impressive !
DeleteI'm sure the new girl friend thinks you're an idiot.
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DeleteTook a dive? Or, hit a dive?
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And what's this new mysterious
ReplyDeleteJ
symbol in your:
Quirk Tue Sep 13, 04:08:00 PM EDT
mean, Zeissman ?
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DeleteYou'll be seeing more of it.
We are coming.
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And the health issue is resolved between us.
ReplyDeleteYou have said 'uncle' though in a sort of disguised refracted way as is often the method you use when surrendering.
Speak of refracted, I think Hill would look and feel sweet with a pair of combo glasses, featuring cobalt blue and prisms.
Delete"Speaking"
Delete.
DeleteYou have said 'uncle' though in a sort of disguised refracted way as is often the method you use when surrendering.
Once again, the English major proves his inability to interpret a simple English sentence. The advancing dyslexia appears evident and significant in our faux farmer and while early educational intervention treatments which have in many cases helped younger individuals are obviously inappropriate for those suffering from common 'old dog' syndrome, there is always hope. It is thought that drugs used for treatment of ADHD such as Ritalin can provide some relief.
Likewise, there are also experimental programs currently being studied such as the DDHD program developed in England. The Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Disorder (DDAT) programme is based on the idea that dyslexia is caused by lack of co-ordination.
It aims to stimulate the brain with a series of exercises, which were adapted by the father of a dyslexic child from moves used by astronauts. They include walking downstairs backwards with your eyes closed, throwing a bean bag from one hand to another and standing on a wobble board or ball.
Unfortunately, because of the obvious dangers of this regime the program is not for everyone. But when all else fails, there is what is known as the 'PC program', developed in elite Ivy League schools that attempts to reduce the stigma attached to this debilitating and embarrassing disease. When a cure seems impossible, unfortunately a condition that exists with many English majors, the program dictates that a concerted effort be undertaken to move perceptions of the suffering patient from the category of 'old dog syndrome' sufferer to that of 'crazy uncle Willie' status by laughing off his failings as simply the effects of advancing old age.
All we can do is wish Crazy Uncle Bob well.
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:)
DeleteOne would think a man with that much technical medical knowledge would recognize a faux diagnosis of pneumonia when it whacks him in the face, but no.....
DeleteQuirk, always a quick study, learned all that from personal experience, by going through the program himself, via court order.
(Quirk had 'been playing dumb' as a Defendent in Court, a tactic of his just short of taking the 5th, and the Judge, thinking him truly dumb, ordered him in for treatment)
DeleteVideo: Yes, of course you want to watch Rick Perry shake it on “Dancing With the Stars”
ReplyDeleteposted at 5:41 pm on September 13, 2016 by Allahpundit
To cleanse the palate, this didn’t go much better for him than the 2012 primary debates did. But I admire him for being game, and for sticking with the poindexter glasses during his big showbiz moment. If they were good enough for Buddy Holly, they should be good enough for any Texan....
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/09/13/video-yes-course-want-watch-rick-perry-shake-dancing-stars/
When Quirk talks dancing, I've noticed he is always talking about his 'butt roll', a step mentioned in the first video.
DeleteA new ceasefire in Syria brought a full day with no deaths in the war between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents, a monitoring body said, as efforts to deliver aid to besieged areas got cautiously underway.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-four hours after the truce took effect, the United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura declared the situation had improved dramatically, saying UN aid access should be possible soon, including to eastern Aleppo — the rebel-held half of the city which is under blockade.
...
In Geneva, Mr de Mistura said there had been allegations of sporadic and geographically isolated incidents.
I just can't fathom why all Hillary's IT aides are taking the 5th before the hearing in Congress today.
ReplyDeleteTime and time again. In fact, one didn't even show up, taking a blanket 5th.
Here's an example of a typical Question and Answer:
Congressman:
"Who told you to delete or destroy Hillary Clinton's e-mails ?"
IT Aide:
"I politely decline to answer and invoke my 5th Amendment privileges"
I don't get it.
That seems like a simple enough question.
It almost seems as if they are hiding something.
Rufus, would you have any idea why all of Hillary's IT Aides are taking the 5th, and refusing to testify ?
Because they don't want to get whacked by the Clinton's thugs.
DeleteI thought that's why you give them immunity.
Delete...but from the snippets I've heard they gave immunity to one guy that still didn't give up the goods.
...thanks to Sam's whackem thesis, I'm guessing.
Strikes in Syria
ReplyDeleteAttack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 15 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed 10 ISIL oil tanker trucks.
-- Near Al Shadaddi, seven strikes engaged seven ISIL tactical units and destroyed a vehicle bomb, three vehicles and a command and control node.
-- Near Raqqah, five strikes engaged two ISIL weapons caches and destroyed 11 supply routes.
-- Near Dayz Ar Awr, a strike destroyed three ISIL oil tanker trucks.
-- Near Mara, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system and a mortar cache.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter and ground attack aircraft conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Baghdadi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.
-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ammo caches and two buildings.
-- Near Mosul, three strikes destroyed three ISIL headquarters buildings.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes destroyed four ISIL headquarters buildings, a vehicle and a vehicle bomb.
-- Near Ramadi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position, a building and a heavy machine gun.
-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position and a tunnel entrance.
Wait a sec. There is supposed to be a cease-fire at the moment.
DeleteI listened to both of Trump’s Iowa and PA speeches. He is all in with the populism and it is working.
ReplyDeleteHe's got the crowds, the enthusiasm, and the loud cheering, for sure.
Delete"Is there anything more fun than a Trump rally ?"
I'd like to go to one, but with Trump leading in Idaho by 21%, which is I think his highest lead anywhere in the nation, I doubt he's coming out this way. He's got bigger fish that need catching.
Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the ensuing fight over eastern Ukraine led the Obama administration to substantially increase the deployment of heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other equipment to NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a move that administration officials said was aimed at deterring Russia. This year, Russian planes have taken to buzzing American warships in the Baltic Sea.
ReplyDelete...
“From a Pentagon perspective, the U.S. military is the one that, around the world, is on the receiving end of Russia’s military misbehavior,” said Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration. “There is just generally a lack of trust.”
It is a measure of the sensitivity of the agreement — for Washington, for Moscow and for an array of other countries and opposition groups — that the State Department has not released text of the agreement with the Russians, or even a fact sheet summarizing it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete