How much money did America waste on wars?

 

 

 

How much money did America waste on wars?

 

The Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University in the United States is known for compiling a research record of war disasters. A project of the Watson Institute is called “Cost of War”. There is also a lot of information in the Watson Institute’s records on the subject of world peace and US war intervention.

For example, after 9/11, the military battles that took place in the name of the war on terrorism were most intense in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. In total, at least 940,000 people died directly in these countries.

In Iraq, in the eight years from 2003 to 2011, 300,000 civilians were killed compared to 4,331 American soldiers, or 68 Iraqi civilians for every American death. In Afghanistan, in the twenty years from 2001 to 2021, 176,000 civilians were killed for 2,461 American soldiers. That is, for every American soldier, more than one Afghan was killed.

Looking at the situation before 9/11, in the twenty years from 1955 to 1975, 58,220 Americans and 2 million Vietnamese died during the Vietnam War. That is, 35 Vietnamese died for every American soldier. In the three years of the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, 36,574 American soldiers and 2 million South and North Koreans died.

The people who were wounded, maimed, or died of starvation, disease, and forced displacement in the above wars. The exact number of these millions of people may never be known.

Wars are never a cheap game. Apparently, the state bears the costs of war, but this money is paid by the common man himself in the form of loans, taxes, levies, ransoms and donations, who are the main source of fuel for these wars.

The Cost of War Project estimates that the twenty-year Afghan war cost $2.3 trillion ($300 million per day). While the eight-year Iraq operation cost $2 trillion ($684 million per day). The twenty-year Vietnam war cost the American taxpayers $1 trillion ($137 million per day). The three-year Korean War cost the United States $390 billion ($356 million per day).

If we take into account the recent forty-day Iran-US-Israel war, considering the duration of the operation, it has proven to be the most expensive war in history in terms of cost. In the first six days, the United States used its full force to the tune of $11.3 billion ($188 billion per day). The average war cost for the remaining thirty-four days is $1 billion per day.

According to research by the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in the first seven weeks of the war, the United States used up forty-five percent of its Tomahawk missiles (one Tomahawk missile costs two and a half million dollars).

While half of the THAAD interceptors and Patriot air defense system missiles that intercept enemy missiles were also used up. The cost of a THAAD or Patriot interceptor is said to be four million dollars. In contrast, Iran

Drones can be manufactured very quickly, but the American company Lockheed Martin has the capacity to produce only 600 Patriot missiles a year. The Patriot system is also used by 18 other countries. If the conflict drags on, then foreign orders will be put on the back burner and US military needs will be prioritized. Because the US has used up its stock of missiles in forty days. It will take three to four years to replenish it. However, there is still enough stock that the US can afford another short war with Iran.

CSIS research estimates that the estimated value of the US aircraft, radars and other defense equipment destroyed or lost in the forty-day war is around two and a half billion dollars.

The equipment destroyed included two powerful radars worth about $1 billion, four F-15s, twenty-five armed drones, an AWACS surveillance plane, a refueling plane, two C-130 cargo planes, an M-10 anti-tank plane, a Chinook cargo helicopter, and four small helicopters. This damage does not include damage to the infrastructure and naval assets of eighteen US bases stretching from the Gulf states to Jordan. The American organization Planet Lab, which publishes satellite images taken from space to hide the damage to the bases, has not released any images of any US bases in the Gulf since February 28 at the request of the Trump administration, although there is no such ban on the release of images of Iranian installations.

Several years after the end of the war, retired American Colonel Harry Summers paid a goodwill visit to Vietnam. In conversation, Colonel Summers told his Vietnamese host, "You must admit that we have beaten you in every land battle we have fought here." The Vietnamese officer said, "You are absolutely right. But who won the war? Us or you?"