The Pentagon says that our wars since 9/11 have cost $1.52 trillion, or $7,740 each for you and me. But this cost does not include war-related costs of the departments of state, veterans affairs, and homeland security, as well as the cost of interest paid to date on the money the US has borrowed to pay for the wars. When you add in these costs, as was done by the Costs of War project, based at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, you get $5.6 trillion, or $23,386 each for you and me.
But, as the report states, even $5.6 trillion is not the total cost. It does not include the substantial costs of war to state and local governments—most significantly, the costs of caring for veterans—or the millions of dollars in excess military equipment the US donates to countries in and near the war zones.
Furthermore, the $5.6 trillion figure does not include the money the US commits to operations in the Horn of Africa, Uganda, Trans-Sahara, the Caribbean, and Central America as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Nor does it tally spending through the Department of Defense European Reassurance Initiative meant to deter Russia; money for Operation Odyssey Lightning, which paid for airstrikes against ISIS in Libya beginning in 2016; or US counterterrorism activities taking place in dozens of countries across the world.
What do you think the total costs are?
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