Published Yesterday, Brown University came out with the newest version of its massive series of studies of the cost of war, which can be accessed here, through its summary of findings.
watson.brown.edu/…
The projects includes a vast number of individual papers on varying aspects of this cohesive topic, with the papers—dozens of them starting with a single one in 2010-- accessible here:
watson.brown.edu/…
As noted, the most recent foursome appears to be on these extremely important topics:
To sum up the structure of the project:
The Costs of War Project is a team of over 50 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2010. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the related violence in Pakistan and Syria. There are many hidden or unacknowledged costs of the United States’ decision to respond to the 9/11 attacks with military force. We aim to foster democratic discussion of these wars by providing the fullest possible account of their human, economic, and political costs, and to foster better informed public policies.
Biden alluded go this project in his talk yesterday:
During his address to the American people Tuesday, President Joe Biden pointed to a Brown University estimate of the cost of the war in Afghanistan.
“After more than $2 trillion spent in Afghanistan — a cost that researchers at Brown University estimated would be over $300 million a day for 20 years in Afghanistan — for two decades — yes, the American people should hear this: $300 million a day for two decades,” he said.
The estimate he’s referring to was compiled by Brown’s Costs of War project. Co-founder Neta Crawford joined News Now at 4 just moments after Biden’s speech concluded to discuss the human and financial toll of the 20-year war.
A brief additional summary of topics includes the following:
- Over 929,000 people have died in the post-9/11 wars due to direct war violence, and several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war
- Over 387,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting
- 38 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons
- The US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $8 trillion
- The US government is conducting counterterror activities in 85 countries
- The wars have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the U.S. and abroad
$8.5 trillion! Consider how much Biden’s agenda, plus the much needed assault on climate change, plus vast additional enhancements for people of color could have been expanded, if Bush and Co. hadn’t decided to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. The counterfactual histories and policies that could have been created if we weren’t continually at war boggle the mind. But, like Aesop’s scorpion, that is not our nature, at least when governed by Republicans.
Although the Dem policy history on this topic isn’t pure, it is vastly superior to that of the Rethugs. Between now and 11/22, we have to remind people of that, especially after the decline in Biden’s popularity, post-Afghanistan. I have great hopes for a rebound. Given the concerns about the withdrawal from Afghanistan, I don’t see a better topic than this one to start with, in a triumvirate with climate change and social change.