Posted: February 26, 2008
Joseph Stiglitz calls America’s missions in Iraq and Afghanistan the “three trillion dollar” wars.
Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, notes that the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan is now the second-most expensive war in US history—even after making adjustments for inflation. The only war that cost more was World War II.
But the costs are not fully appreciated by most Americans. Not yet. That’s because the war has been financed by borrowing, Stiglitz says in a preview of an upcoming book he has written on the subject. “The costs of the war are real even if they have been deferred, possibly to another generation.”
Administration officials originally projected costs of $57 and $69 billion for the wars. Stiglitz says that the actual cost of the wars is now topping $800 billion.
Even this staggering sum does not tell the whole story. It does not include the $500 billion we already spend per year on the regular expenses of the Defense Department. Nor does it include other hidden expenditures, such as intelligence gathering, or funds mixed in with the budgets of other departments.
The Pentagon assigns a value of $500,000 to a fallen soldier’s life. That’s the amount paid out to survivors in death benefits and life insurance. On the other hand, in areas such as health and safety regulation, the US Government values a young man’s life, at the peak of his future earnings capacity, in excess of $7 million. Using this figure, Stiglitz notes that the cost of the nearly 4,000 American troops killed in Iraq adds up to some $28 billion.
Another example of hidden costs is the understating of US military casualties. If a soldier is injured or dies in a night-time vehicle accident, this is officially dubbed 'non combat related' - even though it may be too unsafe for soldiers to travel during daytime. Other Pentagon data, which is much harder to find, shows that the total number of soldiers who have been wounded, injured, or suffered from disease is double the number officially wounded in combat. Stiglitz’s research shows that the majority of these injuries and illnesses can be tied directly to service in the war.
When the hidden costs are factored in, Stiglitz says the total cost of the wars is likely to come in at over $3 trillion. And that’s not including costs to our allies in the wars.
Joseph Stiglitz was chief economist at the World Bank
and won the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 2001. He is the author, with Linda
Bilmes of Harvard University, of a forthcoming book on the costs of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.