A very conservative figure for the cost of the war in Iraq, even before the President's request for an additional $245 billion over the next two years, is $500 billion. This is a very conservative estimate, and it does not include the basic annual cost of our military, the Pentagon and our Armed Forces.
So, what does the war "really" cost?
We can see it this way: the cost of $500 billion can be equally distributed among Americans as $1666.67 per person or about $6,000 per family. I repeat that $500 billion is a conservative cost estimate and it does not include the normal operations of our Armed Forces, which is an additional burden on American families. So the average family pays $100 per month to help pay for the war. $100 is less than the rent or the mortgage but more than the utilities, and more than the fuel and maintenance for the family vehicles.
We can also see it this way: the cost of $500 billion can be distributed over our troops in Iraq. At its height, we have deployed a force of 140,000 troops, before the President's recent "surge." As the war has gone on for five years, we can say that we have paid for (no more than) 700,000 troop-years. Distributing $500 billion over 700,000 troop-years yields some $715,000 per troop-year. The average troop, PFC thru General, surely costs the taxpayer less than $100K per year. Which leaves us with the burden of explaining what $615,000 per troop per year paid for. Surely, we feed our troops, we clothe our troops, we shelter our troops, we provide medical care for our troops, and we arm our troops. All of this cannot possibly or reasonably cost another $100,000 per troop per year. Which still leaves us with an unexplained $515,000 per troop per year. If we gave every troop his own Jeep, a new one EVERY year, this would add another $50,000 per troop per year. But of course, how silly of me, we still have to pay for heavy machinery. The use of carriers and planes and helicopters and tanks, of course. And intel, let's not forget intel. But the fact remains we are supporting every troop, every single soldier, each and every year, with an annual "support budget" of nearly $500,000. While this may be possible, I'd be awfully curious to see a detailed accounting of how this rather extravagant "support budget" is spent.
What do I think? I think that a few folks are making out rather well. And they ain't our troops!