According to government analysts, the net result of the large-scale private sector involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was to increase materially the cost of war operations. Many such projects, now destroyed and dilapidated, have littered the front pages over the past week. The US presence on the ground may now be over. But America will still have to digest the huge price tag.
This financial hangover will be compounded by the need to replace what has been destroyed or simply left behind, and to pay for the weapons and equipment purchased during the last 20 years of go-go defense spending. Opinion US foreign policy. This article is more than 1 month old. Meanwhile, the war continues to spread, no longer limited to Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria, as many Americans think.
Indeed, the U. Last October, news about four Green Berets killed by an Islamic State affiliate in the West African nation of Niger gave Americans a glimpse of just how broad this network is.
And along with it comes all the devastating consequences of militarism for the people of these countries. We must ask: Are these astounding costs worth it? Excluded were indirect deaths caused by the mass exodus of doctors and a devastated infrastructure, for example, while the costs left out trillions of dollars in interest the United States could pay over the next 40 years. The report also examined the burden on U.
The study found U. The report concluded the United States gained little from the war while Iraq was traumatized by it. Earlier this month, the U. Project co-director Neta C. Crawford, professor and chair of political science at Boston University, explains the major implications of the Iraq War for the federal budget.
By Neta C. Crawford, Boston University. Feb 6,
0コメント