In August, 2014, the US-led “coalition” began bombing Iraq and Syria to, in the words of President Obama, “degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIS.” For nearly two years – despite President Obama announcing last November that ISIS was “contained” – the bombing has continued unabated.
A milestone was reached this month, however, as the US coalition dropped its 50,000th bomb against Iraq and Syria. With each bomb costing on average somewhere around $50,000, those bombs have cost US (for the most part) taxpayers at least two and a half billion dollars. Factor in the cost of keeping the bombers in the air, the cost of training the pilots, maintenance, etc. and the cost skyrockets upward from there.
In fact, as of February of this year, the US “war on ISIS” has cost more than $6 billion, to the boundless delight of the Beltway defense contractors.
There will be plenty of money for the other contractors if the bombing finally ceases and the US reaches its real goal of overthrowing Syrian president Assad: Imagine how much damage to infrastructure, environment, etc. will have been done by 50,000 bombs. The US taxpayers will pay once to blow the place up and then pay again to build it back up. Except like in Afghanistan, nothing will actually be rebuilt. The money will just disappear.
War really is a racket.
Daniel McAdams is director of the The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity. Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
$6 Billions so far? Ouch that’s a lot. Only a fraction of what my country spends every year on taking care of ppl fleeing from the wars you started in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria though. Your next president says the US should stop subsidizing other nations defense… maybe that’s a good point, it would be even better though if you started paying for all the damages that that is caused by all the wars your country started or sponsored.
YAAAAH! War is good if you are a defense contractor; not so good if you are one of the hundreds if not thousands who have died as collateral damage when the 500 pounders go off.