About the Cost of War Project
The
Iraq war has certainly been costly in terms of
lives lost, with
thousands of U.S. military personnel dead, and
hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis who have been killed. Also, the
economic costs are far greater
than most people imagine, with more than $1
trillion tax dollars spent
in the first four years of the war.
One trillion dollars equals $720 million spent each day, or $500,000 per minute. The taxpayer money spent on the war is displacing millions of Iraqis and destroying their hospitals and schools instead of supporting health care, education and housing for people in our own communities.
The American Friends Service Committee has launched a national project to highlight the economic cost of the war and demand that Congress shift war funding to support human needs here and real solutions in Iraq.
Bring Cost of War to your Community
The AFSC is committed to bringing our Cost of War banners to any community, group or individual interested in hosting the exhibit. It is an opportunity for dialogue and deeper discussions of the impacts of the war in Iraq, and its direct effects it is having on our communities.
To bring Cost of War to your community, please email or call Project Coordinator, Iris Bieri: (212)598-0958 email me
Click here to see a full list of where we've been
Facts and Figures from the Cost of War project
- Health Insurance for an
adult costs $4,403 per year. $720 Million
could cover 163,525 people.
- The average cost of a
new elementary school is $8,497,627. $720
Million could pay for 84 brand new schools.
- It costs $624 to give
a child free school lunches for a year.
$720 Million could buy lunch for 1,153,846
kids.
- An affordable housing
unit costs around $111,061. $720 Million
could buy 6,482 homes.
- A year of Head Start
costs $7550. $720 Million could open
95,364 new slots.
- The average cost of
renewable electricity for a home is
$565/year. $720 Million could pay for
1,274,336 homes to have it.
- An average school
teacher’s salary is $57,000. $720 Million
could put 12, 478 new teachers in the
classroom.
- The average cost of a
four-year state university is $20,628.
$720 Million could put 34,904 students through
college.
- Health insurance for
a child costs $1,700 per year. $720
Million could cover 423,529 kids.
- Based
upon the work of Nobel Prize winning economist
Joseph Stiglitz and his
colleague Linda Bilmes, the per day cost of
the Iraq War for the first
4 years has been $720 million.
- Per unit costs are based upon research done by the National Priorities Project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How did you come up with $720
million for one day of the Iraq war?
The Iraq War supplemental funding bills passed
by Congress comes to
$410 billion for four years or about $280
million/day. The additional
$440 million/day represents the costs already
incurred but not yet paid
for such as paying the interest on the war
debt, caring for the
wounded, replenishing military equipment and
rebuilding Iraq. These
future costs are based upon the work of Nobel
Prize winning economist
Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes of the
Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard. In a Milken Review update to an
article first published in
the National Bureau of Economic Research,
Stiglitz and Bilmes
calculated the costs that have already been
incurred and will come due
in the future.
Q. Won’t the money that has been
approved by Congress for the Iraq War pay for
everything?
No. That supplemental funding covers the
cost of deploying troops,
feeding and housing them while in Iraq, and
the costs of being an
occupying power, such as recruiting and
training Iraqi police.
Q. Other than what is being covered by
the supplemental, what additional Iraq War
costs have we paid for?
Increased Defense Spending -- $160 Billion.
Many Iraq War costs are
embedded in the annual budget of the
Department of Defense. Stiglitz
and Bilmes estimate 30% of the increase in
that department over the
last four years can be attributed directly to
the Iraq War. These
include increased funds to recruit, activate
and pay for reservists and
Guard members, pay private contractors and
replace military equipment.
Military hardware is being used up at six
times the peacetime rate and
will have to be replaced.
Q. What costs will we be paying for in
the future?
Veterans Disability and Medical Care -- $290
Billion. We have an
obligation to make sure that Iraq war veterans
are taken care of upon
return. Thousands of military personnel
have suffered severe brain and
spinal injuries that will require round the
clock care for the rest of
their lives. Other wounds include post
traumatic stress syndrome,
exposure to depleted uranium, blindness, loss
of limbs and severe
burns. Over 25,000 were wounded in 4
years.
Interest on War Debt -- $191 Billion.
Since we are paying for this war
during a time of tax cuts for the wealthy, we
are paying for the war on
credit. This interest figure is based on
Congressional Budget Office
calculations.
Q. So, how much has four years of war really
cost?
These figures would put the total cost of the
first 4 years of the Iraq
War at over $1 trillion or $720 million per
day or a half a million
dollars per minute. Each day the war continues
beyond those first four
years costs another $720 million.
Q. If this money weren’t spent
on the Iraq War, can we be sure that it would
have been spent on human needs?
No. But it is our duty as citizens to
let our government know what our
priorities are for the Federal budget and for
the direction of our
country. Join us in advocating for an
end to the Iraq war, rescinding
tax cuts for the wealthy, and a commitment to
meeting human needs both
here and in Iraq.
Sources
"Economic Costs Of The Iraq War: An Appraisal
Three Years After The Beginning Of The
Conflict"
Linda Bilmes, Kennedy School, Harvard
University and Joseph E. Stiglitz, University
Professor, Columbia University
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=832646
"Soldiers Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: The Long-term Costs of Providing Veterans Medical Care and Disability Benefits"
Linda Bilmes, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
January 2007
Milken Institute Review, Fourth Quarter, 2006, "Encore,"
Linda Bilmes, Kennedy School, Harvard University and Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University
http://www.epsusa.org/StiglitsBilmes10-06.pdf
Congressional Budget Office,
July 13, 2006,
Letter to Honorable John M. Spratt Jr.,
Ranking Member, Committee on the Budget, U.S.
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/73xx/doc7393/07-13-IraqCost_Letter.pdf