Our military incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan have been more costly than anyone is admitting. If you remember, during the the build-up Bush said this would cost us no more than $50 billion. (USA Today) Yeah. Right. It's now the second most expensive in U.S. history (WWII the most expensive) and the second longest (Vietnam the longest). And let's get this right. To call this a "war" is just plain wrong. We invaded a country, toppled its government, set up a new government. The "war" is long over. We now are occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. You can't "win" an occupation. You can only leave or stay. So, what's it costing us to invade these countries and occupy them?
 
According to a recent CBO report, the so-called wars have cost, so far, a minimum of $746 billion. (See The Cost of the War on Terrorism) Joseph Stiglitz, former V.P of the World Bank and Nobel-winning economist, has written a book with Linda Bilmes, another economist, called The Three Trillion Dollar War. $3 trillion, by the way, is the cost to date, not what the total cost is going to be. When you add in such things as interest on all the money we've borrowed and will borrow, the cost of staying, and long-term healthcare and counseling for veterans, they come up with an estimate in the range of $5 trillion to $7 trillion. They didn't include the costs to the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. (McClatchy)
 
The biggest cost, other than paying interest on the huge debt, will come from healthcare for veterans. New body armor has allowed people to survive once-fatal injuries. In a normal war, the ratio of injuries to fatalities is 2:1. The military will admit to a higher ratio -- 7:1 -- but Stiglitz argues that the true number is about 15:1. That's a lot of injuries. Serious injuries. Injuries we'll have to take care of for many years. And then there are the psychological effects that too will have to be taken care of for a long time.
 
Other costs? Stiglitz also said that about $35 per barrel of the oil prices can be attributed to the fighting. (The Australian) A congressional report last November said that the war is diverting billions of dollars away from "productive investment" by American businesses in the United States and that the conflicts are pulling reservists and National Guard troops away from their jobs, resulting in economic disruptions for U.S. employers that the report estimates at $1 billion to $2 billion. (Washington Post)
 
Then there are the opportunities lost because of all the money being borrowed and spent. Some of the money could have been spent to improve security. What we spend in a week "would be enough to wipe out illiteracy around the world." And just a few days of what we're spending on this fiasco "would be enough to provide health insurance for U.S. children who were not covered." The AFL-CIO said that the cost of occupation in Iraq for one day would give an additional 246,000 children health insurance.
 
We're up to a debt of about $20,000 for every taxpayer in the country. I don't know about you, but being an additional $20,000 in debt doesn't sit well with me. And there's no end in sight. Like I said, this isn't a war so it can't be "won." So, when do we leave? If "winning" isn't the determining factor, what is?