Quote from toc:
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George Bush should have never gone into Iraqi War of 2003. Cost tax payers $1T
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Neither the total cost of the war in Iraq nor the Afghanistan war is known. Congressional appropriation for military operations associated with the 9/11 attacks as of March 2011 is $1.3 trillion. This amount does not include interest on borrowing nor future veterans benefits. www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
Some independent economist's estimates for minimum total costs of these military operations range from 3 to 4 Trillion, depending on the assumptions made. Using the lowest minimum total cost estimate of 3 Trillion results in a per capita cost of about 10K$. Obviously, these estimates are subject to very large errors.
Most of the cost has been incurred following President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" announcement. This should serves as a sober reminder that starting a war is an open ended financial commitment where neither time nor cost is known. Good traders consider such high risk commitments to be foolish. We want to know the worst case outcome before making the commitment.
