An unincorporated division of the Anonymous Anything Society September 4, 2013
THE COST OF WAR
I'm fixated on determining the cost for our failed misadventures in the Middle East. I may have googled the apex of waste while scanning a recently published report compiled by Harvard researcher Linda L. Blimes.
She estimates that the decade of waging war in Iran and Afghanistan will come to $6-trillion, when taking into account the cost of medical care and disability benefits for wounded veterans and replacement of military supplies and equipment.
The government has already spent $134-billion for care and benefits for veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, and we're not done yet.
According to the Los Angeles Times, experts agree that this cost begins to increase for caring for these men and women 30 to 50 years out, as they begin to age. Of the 1.56-million troops discharged, it is expected that at least 50% will deserve to have some sort of claim recognized sometime during the rest of their lives.
Forget attempting any further advancement and augmentation of military science, such as the newest super carrier unveiled by China. How long will it take before we Americans accept that we are second best?
Spending borrowed money to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has already constituted 20% of all debt incurred between 2001 and the end of 2012. The legacy of spending on these wars will offset federal budgets for decades.
My mind quit counting when over four thousand, four hundred Americans were killed and over 32,000 injured. The only word that comes to mind is "insane."
Never mind that the central claim for our being in the Mideast wars is to establish democracy. Not one sane person on this planet can claim that Iraq and Afghanistan are successes to be emulated.
Last question: Have we learned anything?
Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller.
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Phil,
The sad part of the engagement in Iraq is that in order to maintain peace and guide the Iraqis to freedom, we need the Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) to be put in place and executed. Mr. Obama did not follow through on that part of the turnover. The result: continued violence in Iraq by the factions that were kept at bay by the Coalition.
Also, in relation to the ongoing mess in Syria, we cannot provide a lock on the border between Iraq and Syria, because there is no SOFA in force in Iraq.
So, we are exactly where we were before 9-11-01, with an enraged Taliban and no will from the U.S. to defend our interests.
With all of the energy and national treasure expended, veterans will see that this government doesn't value their efforts.
Meanwhile, the political class dines at the tables of the lobbyists in our own "Versailles on the Potomac."* To the veterans, it may seem that Mrs. Obama is saying, "let them eat cake."
It's time for a change. There are lots of veterans with skills who may see this as the beginning of the end. Maybe they will polish their skills and take arms versus the circus we call elections. Who could blame them? I caution against that, but who am I but only one person with no lobbying groups to pay my legislators to listen.
I'm not calling for arms against the government - I am merely imagining a scenario that could be occurring.
-Tim Lyons
*Mr. Lyons alludes to the principal royal palace of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, who were among the many who were beheaded by guillotine during the French Revolution (1789-1799). The response above to having been told that the "peasants have no bread," is attributed to the Queen prior to the tumultuous formation of the First French Republic.
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