The True Costs Of War

March 18, 2005

A few weeks ago, the United States military casualty number topped 1,500. It was widely reported in the news. But did you know that more than half of the troops who do come home have low morale, and more than 100,000 of them need mental health care? And what about the insurgents spurred to action by the U.S. occupation—35,000 more of them now than two years ago? What about the fact that the war is costing every house in American upwards of $3,000? Then there's the things we could have done with all that war money: hired 3 million new elementary school teachers, provided health care for 27 million Americans. The Institute For Policy Studies ran the numbers and found out exactly how much the war has cost us. For more, go to http://ips-dc.org/iraq/failedtransition/transition.pdf .