The War on Terror 101
an in-depth look
How much does the WOT cost?
Most of the country agrees that the War on Terror costs an extraordinary amount of money, but how much exactly has been spent over the length of the War? It may surprise you to know, it's a lot more than you thought.
Since the beginning of the war in 2001, the United States has spent over $1.65 trillion on weapons, research, troops, militant aid, and resources for the war. Most of this money has gone directly to the support and supply of American forces in Iraq and Syria and to build and maintain the costly equipment and vehicles that support the war. The money pouring into the war has no end in sight with a budget of over $700 million, the highest military budget ever proposed in history.
The federal spending on the WOT has reached about $7 to $10 million every day and has added almost $17 trillion to the national debt, nearly doubling it from its earlier $18 trillion. The Iraq War cost over $800 million, and each Taliban militant cost roughly $50 million to kill; multiplying that by the 2,000 Taliban killed every year, that sums up to $100 billion a year spent just on killing Taliban militants.
Spending on defense, especially spending on development of new technologies, does create jobs and some of the money makes it back into the local economy. With that said, spending the same amount on education would actually add to the economy in total and create more than two times the jobs as spending it on defense would. And a tax cut of the same cost would add to the economy and create almost the same amount of jobs because employers would be able to hire more employees.
The spending for the WOT is reaching new record amounts every year. The taxpayers of America have become fed up with the amount that the government spends on the war and many believe that the cost of the war is the main direct cause of the National Debt Crisis. But money is not all that the war costs.
Roughly 6,850 American soldiers have died in the Middle East with direct relation to the War on Terror since 2001. The War on Terror has not been particularly deadly in the grand scheme of history, but because of modern media and the feelings of the nation towards death, the number seems to be much greater.
In the US and in the Middle East, American casualties have reached 3,047 , most of whom lost their lives during the September 11 Terrorist attacks in 2001. Around the world, 108,294 civilians have lost their lives in terrorist attacks, most in countries heavily occupied by radical Islamist organizations. In Iraq, 42,759 civilians have been killed, and in Afghanistan, 16,888 civilians have been killed. Most Americans today believe that most of the victims of terrorism are from Western countries like the US and Europe, but in fact, more than 90% of all deaths related to the War on Terror and terrorist attacks have occurred in the Middle East itself.
