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Costs of War in the News
Selected articles—

40

“The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.” (full story) – By Daniel Trotta (3/14/13)

“When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America's wars. Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released on Wednesday.” (full story) – By Daniel Trotta, Reuters (6/29/11)

Reuters' extensive coverage of the findings was also carried by CBS News and Yahoo News, among many other news outlets worldwide.

 

131

“…a new study has startling numbers of the war’s toll….the number of civilian casualties estimated to be at least 134,000, and the war may have contributed to the death of as many as four times that many….” (full story) (3/16/13)

“Brown University's Costs of War project estimates that the United States has spent between $3.2 trillion and $4 trillion on the ‘war on terror’…We cannot afford, literally, to focus exclusively on foreign affairs alone, as if the choices we make in relations to other nations don't have an impact on our ‘domestic affairs’ or our economy. “ (full story) –By Juliette Kayyem (11/22/11)

 

132 “Catherine Lutz, co-director of the ‘Costs of War’ project … said the group began its research about a year ago, but that it’s fortunate that the findings are being released in the midst of a major debate about government spending. It ‘makes no sense to have that debate without solid data,’ she said.” (full story) – By Jason Ukman (6/29/11)

 

133 (full story) (3/29/13)

 

134

“America has precious little to show for this sacrifice apart from the disruption of al-Qaeda.” (full story) – Editorial in the Economist. (9/3/11)

 

135 “As the Iraqi death toll mounts, so does the war's cost to the U.S. government. The decade long effort cost $1.7 trillion, according to a study released Thursday by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.” (full story) – By Matt Bradley and Ali A. Nabhan (3/14/13)

“There will be some disagreement about these numbers … but the spending is clearly far from over.” (full story) – By Mark Gongloff, Wall Street Journal (6/30/11)

 

136 “A study by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies finds that the war has cost $1.7 trillion so far, with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans.” (full story) – By David Lazarus (3/18/13)

“When you add in future costs, such as ongoing debt service and healthcare costs for injured veterans, that figure will more than double, even if calculated very conservatively, according to political science professor Neta Crawford, coauthor of the "Costs of War" report from the Eisenhower Study Group at Brown University.” (full story) –Editorial (12/16/11)

 

137 “As we mark the tenth anniversary of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq, surely it makes sense to acknowledge the consequences of our conduct, and just this week scholars at Brown University released new estimates of the war's cost in treasure and blood: $6 trillion and at least 190,000 lives lost.” (full story) – By Aaron Belkin (3/16/13)

“The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.” (full story) – By Daniel Trotta for Reuters (3/14/13)

“The astonishing amount of money taxpayers have spent on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – an average of $130 billion annually – could have been better invested in efforts aligned with Americans' values, and in particular, job creation. The Eisenhower Research Project's ‘Costs of War’ project, sponsored by Brown University, estimates that a year of war funding could have sparked 936,000 education jobs, 780,000 health care jobs, or 364,000 constructions jobs.” (full story) – By US Rep. Pete Stark (10/7/11)

“In a video op-ed exclusive to HuffPost, some of the report's authors explained the high costs – both past and future – of the wars. … ‘Wars, in a sense, are never over when they're over,’ Catherine Lutz, a Brown University anthropologist, said in the video op-ed. ‘They go