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US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

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Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#31

Post by gridlockd »

YarickR2 wrote: post #11

So roughly 100 were killed for every american dead in 9/11. Thas's a harsh punishment, US certainly doesn't know what mercy is . Edit: missed by two orders of magnitude. Still, a lot. Also: not a blame, just observations.

The vast majority of these deaths are due to internal strife, they weren't killed on the orders of the US.

In hindsight, the second war in Iraq was a disaster of course, but why blame the US for every bad part of the outcome? What about the Iraqis? What about Iran? If the US hadn't started that war, the regime may well have collapsed during the Arab spring.

As for Afghanistan, that conflict started well before US involvement after 9/11.

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#32

Post by belltaco »

nostromo wrote: post #9
nibepins wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do that, it happens that "War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group kno…

It reminds me of a recent quote I saw in the news: "The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t [in love with me], because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy, but we're getting out of the endless wars."

>“We’ve totally rebuilt the military — $2.5 trillion,” he said, going on to talk about a contract awarded to that shipbuilding company, Fincantieri Marinette Marine, “to build the next generation of guided missile frigates for the United States Navy.”

>He then mentioned missiles, rockets and tanks, saying: “What we had were great people in the military, but they weren’t given the right equipment, so now they are. Two and a half trillion dollars. … We’ve invested the $2.5 trillion

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#33

Post by YarickR2 »

gridlockd wrote: post #31
YarickR2 wrote: post #11

So roughly 100 were killed for every american dead in 9/11. Thas's a harsh punishment, US certainly doesn't know what mercy is . Edit: missed by two orders of magnitude. Still, a lot. Also: not a blame, just observations.

The vast majority of these deaths are due to internal strife, they weren't killed on the orders of the US. In hindsight, the second war in Iraq was a disaster of course, but why blame the US for every bad part of the outcome? What about the Iraqis? What about Iran? If the US hadn't started that war, the regime may well have collapsed during the Arab spring. As for Afghanistan, that conflict started well before US inv…

No blame, just numbers.

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#35

Post by ghego1 »

slezakattack wrote: post #26
pgustafs wrote: post #13

A little arithmetic: 6.4T USD / 128M US households = 50K USD/household 50K USD/household/ 9 years = 5.5K USD/household/yr

That's pretty significant when you see that median household income across the nation ranged from $38,000/yr - $68,000/yr [1]. 5% - 13% of your paycheck going to a war [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...

Thanks for the additional context, the numbers are even more astonishing when compared to the median income

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#36

Post by Jtsummers »

gumby wrote: post #17
nostromo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminds me of a recent quote I saw in the news: "The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t [in love with me], because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy, but we're getting out of the endless wars."

That same person boasts about an increased pentagon budget. Where does he think that money goes? It doesn’t seem like either leading candidate has taken a position on the military-industrial complex.

The fetishization (despite the massive reduction in the percentage of the population who have served) of the military in the US makes it really hard to take a strong stance against the MIC as a politician (aiming for the presidency, representatives and some senate seats have more freedom here).

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#37

Post by boomboomsubban »

submeta wrote: post #10

And despite all of the efforts the adversaries haven‘t effectively been taken down, the world is not a more secure place, the reputation of the US has taken damage, in a few years the next IS and taliban are coming, under another name.

It's worse than that. The Taliban is as strong as it ever was and there weren't groups like ISIS before these wars. Al-Qaeda had hundreds of members before 9/11, ISIS had tens to hundreds of thousands. Our "adversaries," generally people (admittedly not the nicest people) who want their sovereignty, have grown exponentially.

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#39

Post by gridlockd »

YarickR2 wrote: post #33
gridlockd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of these deaths are due to internal strife, they weren't killed on the orders of the US. In hindsight, the second war in Iraq was a disaster of course, but why blame the US for every bad part of the outcome? What about the Iraqis? What about Iran? If the US hadn't started that war, the regime may well have collapsed during the Arab spring. As for Afghanistan, that conflict started well before US inv…

No blame, just numbers.

You call it "harsh punishment" as if the US intended these consequences, because it knows "no mercy". That sounds like blame to me.

Re: US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $6.4T dollars

#40

Post by boomboomsubban »

gridlockd wrote: post #31
YarickR2 wrote: post #11

So roughly 100 were killed for every american dead in 9/11. Thas's a harsh punishment, US certainly doesn't know what mercy is . Edit: missed by two orders of magnitude. Still, a lot. Also: not a blame, just observations.

The vast majority of these deaths are due to internal strife, they weren't killed on the orders of the US. In hindsight, the second war in Iraq was a disaster of course, but why blame the US for every bad part of the outcome? What about the Iraqis? What about Iran? If the US hadn't started that war, the regime may well have collapsed during the Arab spring. As for Afghanistan, that conflict started well before US inv…

>In hindsight, the second war in Iraq was a disaster of course, but why blame the US for every bad part of the outcome? What about the Iraqis? What about Iran?

The US destroyed their lives. Their communities were destroyed, their jobs vanished, and their loved ones were dead. Many certainly reacted despicably, but the US deserves most of the blame.

>If the US hadn't started that war, the regime may well have collapsed during the Arab spring.

One of the major triggers for the Arab Spring was the US diplomatic cable leaks, and much of the military power any insurgents had was a result of US backing. Without the War on Terror, the Arab Spring would have been a completely different thing if it happened at all.

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