April 29, 2006

A big fat war

Filed under: US, Middle East

So this is, like, not a bargain maybe:

The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double before the war ends, the Congressional Research Service estimated this week.

Some quick calculations show that, for a total cost $650 bn, the Americans could have had nearly 390,000,000 years worth of children’s health insurance, or more than 11,500,000 manyears of public school teaching. Or they could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for 25 years.

No wonder the brains behind this project has been made President of the World Bank.

However, according to a former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of that institution, even the new official estimates are far too modest:

The real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion (£1.1 trillion), up to 10 times more than previously thought, according to a report written by a Nobel prize-winning economist and a Harvard budget expert.

The study, which expanded on traditional estimates by including such costs as lifetime disability and healthcare for troops injured in the conflict as well as the impact on the American economy, concluded that the US government is continuing to underestimate the cost of the war.

The Iraqis are grateful, though! Aren’t they?

A majority of Iraqis say their country is in dismal economic shape and getting worse, according to a new poll conducted by a conservative American think tank, with three of four respondents also describing security in the country as “poor.”

[snip]

Only 1% said they trusted American and coalition forces for their personal protection.

OK, but surely, the $1-2 trillion investment has made inroads in the War on Terror? No?

THREE years after its invasion of Iraq the US Administration acknowledged yesterday that the war has become “a cause” for Islamic extremists worldwide and there is a risk of the country becoming a safe haven for terrorists hoping to launch fresh attacks on America.

According to CIA data released yesterday, there were 11,111 terrorist incidents last year, killing more than 14,600 non-combatants, including 8,300 in Iraq. Of the 56 American civilians killed by terrorists in 2005, some 47 of them were in Iraq.

But hey, when 4.5 percent of homo sapiens are in need of consuming 25 percent of the world’s petroleum, it stands to reason that decisive action may be called for anyway. John B. Judis in The New Republic:

Why did the United States invade Iraq? Well, there were lots of reasons, but one reason was to create a petroleum counterweight to OPEC. Neoconservatives within the administration assumed that a pro-American Iraq would quit OPEC, and, with its plentiful reserves, drive down world prices. That didn’t happen, of course. Now one reason the Bush administration feels it must stay in Iraq is to prevent the destruction of oil-rich Kirkuk in a civil war and to ensure that a new Iraqi regime will not join Iran in attempting to frustrate American oil needs.

In other news:

The US has the highest level of obesity in high-income countries, figures show.

Harvard University researchers found that in 2002 the real level of obesity among male adults was 28.7 per cent, compared to previous estimates for that year of 21.9 per cent.

The prevalence of obesity among female adults was 34.5 per cent in 2002, compared to conventional estimates of 21.2 per cent.

Do these dots perchance add up to something?

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