The Iraq War began with the initial invasion spear-headed by the United States in the year 2003. A long, bloody conflict the war dragged on for years, but was officially declared over in December 2011. The eight years spent in Iraq exacted a huge toll though, and it’s one that is only now beginning to truly see the light of day.
The Financial Costs of The Iraq War
The Iraq War was fraught with problems that led to a massive bill. The expenditures on changing equipment for the army, the huge sums paid out to civilian contractors (many of which over-charged the government egregiously for their services), and the general costs of soldiers, gear, and upkeep was also adding up on top of everything else. President Bush originally predicted the war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion dollars when he pitched the idea to Congress, and that cost was ridiculed as being overblown by some in the government at the time.
The final bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has been added up to over $6 trillion, $2 trillion of which was borrowed in large part from foreign lenders. This was responsible for 20 percent of the increase in the U.S.’s debt between 2001 and 2012, and since that time the U.S. has paid over $260 billion in interest on those loans. This is a far cry from the president’s statements at the time that oil revenues would pay for the war effort, and then some. [Read more…]