cost of war

Iraq, Afghanistan War Costs Now Top Vietnam - excerpts:

As a result of Wednesday’s vote [congress approved $70 billion more], Sharp [of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation] said, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will become the second costliest conflict in American history, trailing only World War II.

"But that was a time when 12 million Americans served, as compared with 1.42 million active duty soldiers and just over one million National Guard and reservists today," Sharp added.

Much of the money approved by Congress will go to buy expensive new military equipment

"I think what you’re seeing from Democrats is a resignation to the fact that they’re going to have to wait for the Bush Administration to leave office before they see any serious change in the country’s war policy," Sharp said. "The Democrats just want to play out the clock on this one."
But "playing out the clock" comes with a severe cost for essential services at home.

"We want to help people comprehend the magnitude of these numbers," said the group’s Pamela Schwartz. "Surely, ultimately, we'd hope that our priorities would shift so that significantly less money is going to war with more money going to programs like heath care, Headstart, and education."
"We want to help people understand that choices are being made here," she added.

To that end, the National Priorities Project has set up a web-site, www.costofwar.com, where taxpayers can learn what the cost of the Iraq war has meant to their community. Visitors to the website can search by state, city, or congressional district and find out how much money the Iraq war has taken out of their community and where the money could have gone instead.

"The Democrats were elected last year with a certain set of priorities, but President Bush drew a line in the sand," Schwartz told OneWorld. "Rather than drawing their own line, Democrats respected Bush’s line. They met President Bush’s spending limits on domestic programs and gave him a blank check for the Iraq war. That’s the choice they made."