the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 28, 2008
The U.S. military has spent nearly as much on the war in Iraq, 648 billion dollars, as it did in Vietnam, 686 billion, when the figures are adjusted for inflation. Soon, the Iraq War will become the second most expensive war in U.S. history, behind only the Second World War. When spending on the wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere are added in, the U.S. has spent 860 billion dollars on military operations since 9/11.
When the war in Iraq started, in order to convince the population to support the war, the White House reassured everyone the war would cost no more than about 50 to 60 billion dollars. Not to mention the fact that they never spoke of the more than a million Iraqis who would lose their lives, or the over 4,000 U.S. soldiers–not counting those who killed themselves when they came back.
Even after the war’s first year, Paul Bremer, then overseeing the US. occupation of Iraq, predicted the price tag would be no more than 100 billion dollars. So much for politicians’ predictions! And the war is not over yet, not by any stretch of the imagination.
When it comes to money for health care, schools, housing, or transportation, there is never any money to be found. But when the politicians need taxpayer money to expand the American empire, the sky’s the limit!