According to reports, the US’s ‘War on Terror’ cost $21 trillion and resulted in the deaths of about one million people.
NPP Pressroom
The Washington Newsday
Jonathan Edwards
09/02/2021
According to reports, the US’s ‘War on Terror’ cost $21 trillion and resulted in the deaths of about one million people.
President Joe Biden, visibly agitated, lambasted the estimated $2 trillion cost of the US war in Afghanistan during his first speech since the end of the two-decade military campaign there on Tuesday.
Now, two recent reports show that the cost to the US and the rest of the globe is considerably higher.
The report, titled “State of Insecurity: The Cost of Militarization since 9/11,” was released early Thursday by the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies’ National Priorities Project, and found that “the United States has spent $21 trillion on foreign and domestic militarization” since the fateful 2001 attacks that spawned the Afghanistan intervention, marking a new era of U.S.-led conflict across the globe.
Military spending, which includes the Pentagon, retirement benefits, nuclear programs, foreign defense aid, and intelligence, accounted for more than three-quarters of the $21 trillion, which is roughly the amount of the whole US GDP. These totaled to $16 trillion in all.
$3 trillion was allocated to veterans’ programs, $949 billion to Homeland Security, and $732 billion to federal law enforcement.
Alternative allocations for these money were also discussed in the report, which included a list of important issues plaguing the country and the estimated cost of addressing them. Some of the highlights include:
“With $4.5 trillion, the US electric grid could be completely decarbonized.”
“$2.3 trillion could create 5 million $15 per hour jobs over the next ten years, including benefits and cost-of-living adjustments.”
“$1.7 trillion could be used to wipe out student debt.”
“With $449 billion, the extended Child Tax Credit could be extended for another ten years.”
“$200 billion could provide free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds for the next ten years, as well as improve teacher pay.”
“$25 billion could supply COVID vaccines to low-income countries’ populations.”
The National Priorities Project’s program director, Lindsay Koshgarian, believes that the United States’ priorities are incorrect.
“Our so-called security money isn’t going to the places where the real threats are,” Koshgarian told This website. “We’re facing a slew of serious threats: the pandemic has claimed more than 600,000 lives in the United States, the opioid epidemic claims nearly 50,000 lives every year, people are losing their homes to fires and floods, and millions of people are at risk of becoming homeless once pandemic eviction moratoriums expire. We can have all the weapons, deployments, and harsh immigration crackdowns we want, but none of them will make a difference. This is a condensed version of the information.