[quote]US wars launched since the attacks of September 11, 2001, have left 225,000 dead and cost up to $US4.4 trillion ($4.12 trillion), according to a new study by university researchers.
The study published by Brown University this week focused on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen, which came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
The authors argued that governments almost always go to war underestimating the potential duration and costs of a conflict while overestimating "the political objectives that can be accomplished by the use of brute force".
The study said "an extremely conservative estimate" of the casualty toll was about 225,000 people killed and 365,000 wounded in the wars so far.
The number of soldiers killed comes to 31,741, including about 6000 Americans, 1200 allied troops, 9900 Iraqis, 8800 Afghans, 3500 Pakistanis as well as 2300 US private security contractors, it said.
The civilian toll was much higher, with an estimated 172,000 dead, including about 125,000 Iraqis, 35,000 Pakistanis and 12,000 Afghans, it said.
The study acknowledged that estimating the number of dead was difficult, particularly the toll for insurgents, putting the number at between 20,000 to 51,000 insurgents killed.
The report found 168 reporters and 266 humanitarian workers were among the dead since the US launched its "war on terror" after 9/11.
The wars also have triggered a massive flow of refugees and displaced persons, with more than 7.8 million displaced, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, it said.
The study estimated the financial cost of the wars at a minimum of $3.47 trillion and up to $4.12 trillion, which represents about a quarter of the country's current debt.
The researchers arrived at a much larger figure than the Pentagon's previous estimates, as they included spending by the Department of Homeland Security to counter terrorist threats, government projections for spending on wounded veterans through 2051 and war-related funds from the State Department and the US Agency for International Development.
The US government has previously cited the price tag for the wars at $936.5 billion.
"Our estimate is larger because we include more than the direct Pentagon appropriation for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the larger global war on terror," said the study.
"Wars always cost more than what the Pentagon spends for the duration of the combat operation."[/quote]
[url]http://www.news.com.au/world/september-11-toll-at-225000-and-rising/story-e6frfkyi-1226086040023[/url]
Think how much better the USA could be if that 4.4trillion had gone to other things :(
What a world we live in :smith:
Looks like the Terrorists succeeded.
The US should stop investing in their stupid military and invest in good stuff like Science and Health Care. The americans think "OH WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPERPOWER AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING LOLOLOL". It's just because they have a big military. They just want to be a superpower.
Paranoid Americans, still haven't got out of the habit of thinking the Russians are going to attack them.
[QUOTE=Occlusion;30845279]Think how much better the USA could be if that 4.4trillion had gone to other things :([/QUOTE]
Think of how much better the USA could be if even a quarter of that had gone to other things.
[QUOTE=Occlusion;30845279]Think how much better the USA could be if that 4.4trillion had gone to other things :([/QUOTE]
Also, how much happier children, parents, cousins, friends would have been if the people who had fought and died / accidentally killed (innocents) weren't actually killed, and would still be living today.
[QUOTE=usaokay;30845380]Most of the stuff society still use today were invented for war use.[/QUOTE]
That doesn't justify war in any way.
[QUOTE=Occlusion;30845279]Think how much better the USA could be if that 4.4trillion had gone to other things :([/QUOTE]
President Theodore Roosevelt said speak softly and carry a big stick. Now America prefers carrying the biggest stick in the land and screaming like an idiot clubbing half the world to death along with itself. kinda similar right? ┐('～`；)┌
Don't worry, by 2014 apparently China will be the super power, all hail our new masters.
It's been 10 years, they need to let it go.
[QUOTE=usaokay;30845380]Most of the stuff society still use today were invented for war use.[/QUOTE]
Most? Got a source for that? I can understand there are some, perhaps quite a lot of things. But most? There's a lot of "stuff" out there.
[QUOTE=usaokay;30845380]Most of the stuff society still use today were invented for war use.[/QUOTE]
That's because all the money was invested in the Military. The same result would have popped up if they invested in Science or Healthcare instead. Possibly even more since they do not focus on wars. They focus on the future.
[QUOTE=usaokay;30845380]Most of the stuff society still use today were invented for war use.[/QUOTE]
I've heard similar things about the space program
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7criyE09uy0&feature=related[/media]
Reminds me of this. Seriously, take two minutes of your day to watch this, because it may well change your life!
[QUOTE=Killuah;30845351]Looks like the Terrorists succeeded.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7696/dedust20000pc.jpg[/Img]
I could agree with being there for like the first year or two after 9/11. But now? It's time to go home, theres no reason to lose more soldiers over this.
I wonder how big chunk of that 4.4 trillion was paid to the grieving families who demanded some benefits out of the tragedy.
Think of the number. 3,4 trillion. And thats just the minimum amount used in the war.
Thats enough to[list]
[*]make 3,400,000 people millionaires.
[*]give a BILLION of starving people 3400US$
[*]give every person in USA 11,000$
[*]give every single person living on this planet 450$[/list]
3.4 TRILLION US$ IS [B]2,286,482,851 KILOGRAMS[/B] IN GOLD BRO!
Thats over 150 times the money that is used to explore space.
It's also almost 30% of the current US public debt.
In my opinion they should have spent a trillion of the money on building schools and educating teachers in third world countries.
[QUOTE=Mr.T;30845353]The US should stop investing in their stupid military and invest in good stuff like Science and Health Care. The americans think "OH WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPERPOWER AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING LOLOLOL". It's just because they have a big military. They just want to be a superpower.
Paranoid Americans, still haven't got out of the habit of thinking the Russians are going to attack them.[/QUOTE]
How rude.
[QUOTE=Mr.T;30845353]The US should stop investing in their stupid military and invest in good stuff like Science and Health Care. The americans think "OH WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPERPOWER AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING LOLOLOL". It's just because they have a big military. They just want to be a superpower.
Paranoid Americans, still haven't got out of the habit of thinking the Russians are going to attack them.[/QUOTE]
not all americans support what the government is doing you know
[QUOTE=mac338;30849598]In my opinion they should have spent a trillion of the money on building schools and educating teachers in third world countries.[/QUOTE]
How about building schools and educating teachers in America
[QUOTE=Mr.T;30845353]The US should stop investing in their stupid military and invest in good stuff like Science and Health Care. The americans think "OH WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPERPOWER AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING LOLOLOL". It's just because they have a big military. They just want to be a superpower.
Paranoid Americans, still haven't got out of the habit of thinking the Russians are going to attack them.[/QUOTE]
Our government sucks and we can't do anything about it
[QUOTE=Mr.T;30845353]The US should stop investing in their stupid military and invest in good stuff like Science and Health Care. The americans think "OH WE ARE THE WORLDS SUPERPOWER AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING LOLOLOL". It's just because they have a big military. They just want to be a superpower.
Paranoid Americans, still haven't got out of the habit of thinking the Russians are going to attack them.[/QUOTE]
its really not as much that, as whenever anything happens, everyone looks to the US and expects us to be the world fuckin police. and dont say they dont, because fuckin everyone does. im not saying we need to, but when little countries beg and beg for our help, then we go in, and everyone acts like we're so terrible, thats some bullshit.
and youre ignorant if you dont think that lots and lots of people in america are completely against the wars.
[QUOTE=Dannyxowns;30849908]its really not as much that, as whenever anything happens, everyone looks to the US and expects us to be the world fuckin police. and dont say they dont, because fuckin everyone does. im not saying we need to, but when little countries beg and beg for our help, then we go in, and everyone acts like we're so terrible, thats some bullshit.[/QUOTE]
how did you even come to this conclusion
[QUOTE=Meatpuppet;30849929]how did you even come to this conclusion[/QUOTE]
because people have come to the conclusion that when human rights are being violated, we have been come to be expected to do something about it.
like i said, im not saying we NEED TO DO IT EVERYTIME, but when we do, we please some, and others get pissed. there's no way to please everyone. we just usually end up pleasing the people who probably dont matter.
the part of the post i quoted that made me mad, was the person generalizing all americans into one group that wants to go flex military muscles everywhere, and that's just not true.
[QUOTE=Killuah;30845351]Looks like the Terrorists succeeded.[/QUOTE]
If their goal was to really screw over the average American they succeeded beyond what I bet were their wildest dreams. They accomplished something even the Soviet Union at the height of its power could not get close to achieving.
[QUOTE=Killuah;30845351]Looks like the Terrorists succeeded.[/QUOTE]
Yup. People think that the terrorists only wanted to kill, but it caused the U.S. to spend a shit load in military, have the media trick people into fearing everything, dumb TSA checks, and the focus on defeating the terrorists instead of something to improve the country.
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