Today's Article
The so-called 'war on
terrorism' is the most
costly military
engagement in
American history, with
over one trillion
dollars appropriated
so far.
The American Spark
'War On Terrorism' Most Costly U.S. Engagement, Ever
By Cliff Montgomery - Aug. 11th, 2010
The so-called "war on terrorism" is the most costly military engagement in American history, with over one
trillion dollars appropriated for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.
Perhaps that is inevitable. This "war" frankly is an ill-defined engagement, fought against a battle tactic rather
than against a single, clearly defined enemy. Such a scheme practically invites open-scale endeavors devoid of
either a timeframe or a definite purpose.
Though to be fair, this war is the most expensive in absolute terms. After one corrects for inflation it is the
second most costly U.S. military engagement, after World War II.
A recent study from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provided cost estimates of all major American
wars, from the Revolution ($2.4 billion, after adjusted for inflation) to World War I ($334 billion), and onward to
World War II ($4.1 trillion) and finally the fruitless nation-building of Iraq ($784 billion) and the war in
Afghanistan ($321 billion).
CRS provided its war cost estimates both in constant year dollars (that is, costs adjusted for inflation), and in
current year dollars (or costs at the time the dollars were spent).
"The report also provides estimates of the cost of each war as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
during the peak year of each conflict," stated the report, "and of overall defense spending as a share of GDP
at the peak [of hostilities]."
But with such massive estimates over such a large time span, it's inevitable that caveats would exist. It's a
matter that's tackled in this study.
World War II still is the most expensive U.S. war in constant dollars. That engagement cost a huge 35.8% of
GDP during its peak year, and cost a staggering $4.1 trillion in federal Fiscal Year 2011 dollars.
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