The costs of the Iraq war are escalating for the United States.
They are enlarging an already serious federal-budget deficit. The October-through-July deficit hit a record $324 billion, the Treasury reported last week. The Congressional Budget Office projects the red ink will reach $401 billion by the end of September.
Moreover, because restoration of Iraqi oil production has been slowed by sabotage and other problems, US consumers and business are paying probably an extra $100 million a day for gasoline and other petroleum products.
Estimates of the cost of the war are rough. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told the Senate the "burn rate" runs about $3.9 billion a month. Afghanistan, together with Noble Eagle, the protective overflights of military jets in the US, costs another $1.1 billion a month.
Members of Congress have asked the Bush administration for a detailed breakout of those costs. They also would like to get a guess on the bill for reconstruction of Iraq. But these numbers have not been forthcoming.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget recently estimated the fiscal 2004 deficit at $475 billion. But that included no money for Iraq.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote:"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953
War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. This webpage is a simple attempt to demonstrate one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on our tax dollars.
To the right you will find a running total of the amount of money spent by the US Government to finance the war in Iraq. This total is based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Below the total are a number of different ways that we could have chosen to use the money. Try clicking on them; you might be surprised to learn what a difference
