What the war costs
The war is costing about $1 billion a month. This will rise,
says the New York Times of Nov. 12.
"The cost of the conflict has risen almost daily as the
United States has expanded its military presence in and around
Afghanistan, officials said. And in the coming weeks, military
planners say they anticipate sharply rising expenses for things
like upgrading airfields in Central Asia to handle American
transport planes and fighter jets, increasing numbers of bombs
dropped each day over Afghanistan and deploying additional
aircraft and ground troops to the region."
The breakdown includes:
"Nearly 55,000 Guard and Reserve forces have been called to
active duty at a cost of about $200 million a month, but those
numbers could double within months, Pentagon officials have
said.
"F-18 and F-14 fighters jets ... are flying longer and more
often than usual, typically 30 to 40 sorties a day. Their
missions over Afghanistan last six hours on average, at a cost
of more than $5,500 per hour, the Pentagon said.
"There are also KC-135 tanker planes that are constantly
airborne over Europe, Central Asia and the Mediterranean to
refuel fighters and transports en route to the war zone. And a
handful of land-based bombers-B-1's, B-2's and B-52's-have
participated in the daily attacks, at a cost of more than
$10,000 per hour each. B-2 missions, which originate in
Missouri, can last 34 hours.
"Munitions, ranging from 500-pound gravity bombs that cost
$1,000 each to 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs that cost $80,000
each. The United States has dropped 6,000 bombs and missiles,
including about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles that cost nearly
$1 million each."
As the Pentagon escalates the war, unemployment and
homelessness rise, and the rich start enjoying huge tax breaks,
billions more will be taken from social services of all kinds,
including Social Security.
--F.G.
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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