American Entropy: BushCo. is almost 'anti-math'

23 August 2005

BushCo. is almost 'anti-math'

At least he will be if he reads Linda Bilmes in the NYT. According to her math and some fairly reasonable projections, the war on Iraq is not only taking human life but, as if this news, draining our pocketbooks and wallets as well. While the cost of life often overshadows the cost of war, as it should. Her article sheds new light on the long term impact of this and other wars that our country will/is pursue(ing). Most obvious is how we will care for the soldiers when they return.

But the biggest long-term costs are disability and health payments for returning troops, which will be incurred even if hostilities were to stop tomorrow. The United States currently pays more than $2 billion in disability claims per year for 159,000 veterans of the 1991 gulf war, even though that conflict lasted only five weeks, with 148 dead and 467 wounded. Even assuming that the 525,000 American troops who have so far served in Iraq and Afghanistan will require treatment only on the same scale as their predecessors from the gulf war, these payments are likely to run at $7 billion a year for the next 45 years.

In short

...if the American military presence in the region lasts another five years, the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States.

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