1. How much money has the United States spent fighting the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the broader war on terrorism, and how much more can we expect will be allocated over the foreseeable future?
"Including all the funds Congress has voted this year, we will have spent $437 billion on Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the war on terror since 2001—about $1,500 for every American. All this despite Paul Wolfowitz's promise that the war would be over quickly, the troops home soon, and that the reconstruction would be self-funding, thanks to the sale of Iraqi oil supplies. Back in 2003 the President's economic advisor, Larry Lindsay, predicted that the Iraq adventure would cost more than $100 billion. He was fired, in part, for saying it, yet he greatly underestimated the cost."
The question was put to to Gordon Adams one time senior White House budget official for national security for national security and international affairs from 1993 to 1997. He is a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and is writing a book on national security budget planning. He responded to a series of questions about the enormous sums of money being spent on the war on terror, and the Enron-style budgetary trickery being used by the Bush Administration to obscure the war's true cost.
The full Q & A appears in Harper's Magazine here. The sums are staggering - to say the least.
"Including all the funds Congress has voted this year, we will have spent $437 billion on Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the war on terror since 2001—about $1,500 for every American. All this despite Paul Wolfowitz's promise that the war would be over quickly, the troops home soon, and that the reconstruction would be self-funding, thanks to the sale of Iraqi oil supplies. Back in 2003 the President's economic advisor, Larry Lindsay, predicted that the Iraq adventure would cost more than $100 billion. He was fired, in part, for saying it, yet he greatly underestimated the cost."
The question was put to to Gordon Adams one time senior White House budget official for national security for national security and international affairs from 1993 to 1997. He is a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and is writing a book on national security budget planning. He responded to a series of questions about the enormous sums of money being spent on the war on terror, and the Enron-style budgetary trickery being used by the Bush Administration to obscure the war's true cost.
The full Q & A appears in Harper's Magazine here. The sums are staggering - to say the least.
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