16 years ago today, on September 11, 2001, a handful of men took over a few jetliners and momentarily wreaked havoc on the great city of New York, and left our entire country gut punched. Our nation has essentially been at war since that moment in time. This “war” has seemed to be a war on ghosts. We have never really had a clearly established enemy on which to attribute this war.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea! Oh, my!
Terrorism is defined as the unlawful use of violence and/or intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. Forgive me, but that just sounds an awful lot like what the purveyors of “The war on terror” have been doing for 16 years.
Let us never forget that the so called purpose of George W Bush going to war in Iraq was clearly debunked. There were never weapons of mass destruction there.
Had there actually been weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or an actual definitive enemy in Afghanistan, and now Syria, would they have been more baleful than Kim Jong Un? Perhaps war with North Korea would not have been as profitable for arms dealers? Or perhaps mutually assured destruction is enough of a deterrent? China is an ever present reality when it comes to North Korea, but the little countries in the Middle East have not the luxury of a big brother watching over them.
The cost: 1.6 trillion dollars, several hundred billion at a time, and American lives.
Nevertheless, this illusive “War on Terror” has put hundreds of billions of dollars into the hands of some mysterious people and it cost Americans dearly. In 2014 it was estimated that wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan had cost the nation 1.6 trillion dollars from 2001 to 2014.
The Congressional Research Service broke it down as follows:
- Operation Enduring Freedom - $686 billion
- Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn - $815 billion
- Operation Noble Eagle (enhancing security at bases) - $27 billion
- Programs and activities not directly related to the War On Terror - $80 billion
Of course, this is a very bare bones estimate.
More detailed analysis shows trillions of dollars in additional spending. I’ll try, and probably fail, to put that into some kind of perspective; World War II cost The United States a mere $341 billion. That would be considerably more in today’s economy, but the scale of the two wars is not comparable. The war in Syria has yet to be tallied.
We, the American people, have been embroiled in a war not of our own making for 16 very long years and we still have been given no measurable justification for it. And the spending continues. There have been 7000 American soldiers killed in the middle east since this all began, and what for if not to line the pockets of bankers, politicians and arms dealers?
Who profits? Military arms dealers, the wealthy, and republican politicians
Virginia-based Lockheed Martin's arms sales totaled $36.44 billion in 2015 Lockheed Martin design weapons systems and such for The United States military industrial complex. They are but one source for armament. There are several.
Our GOP run government is taking money from healthcare and taxing the poor to pay for these wars against these elusive “enemies” and who profits? Definitely not the average American! These Republican leeches have been selling these wars hard ever since George W was in office. And then there is the new GOP enemy: the mysterious “illegal immigrant” and his ever ambiguous threat to our, “Southern borders.” And the fear mongering continues.
How much longer can this continue? How much more can we take? Did those extortionists and terrorists who sold this War on Terror take natural disasters like Katrina, Harvey, or Irma into consideration? Something tells me they didn’t. Can America survive this bleeding from within?
