Thought Question 2 Essay

Submitted By Owen-Maisva
Words: 314
Pages: 2

What was the true cost of going to war with Iraq? Was there more of an economic hit to the country or was there more of military loss?

I would have to say that the war in Iraq was a mix of both economic and military issues. If you look at it, in 2003 the United States cut spending in Afghanistan to 14.7 billion dollars while they poured 53 billion into Iraq. From 2004 to 2006 the country had spent at least 4 times as much money in Iraq as they did in nearby Afghanistan. Many argue that maybe the casualties of the war were more important and that we shouldn’t have concentrated so much of our efforts and soldiers into the war. But, many others argue that, this is a consequence of war and that people are bound to die and loose soldiers. It is bound to happen and there is nothing that can be done about it other than controlling the amount of troops being sent out to the battlefield. The Iraq war caused a series of economic issues for the US. Prices for oil barrels were less than 25 dollars a barrel, but once the war started prices soared to 140 dollars a barrel by 2008. War affected the largest suppliers of oil, production was interrupted and instability brought investors out of the Middle East. Having higher prices on oil has devastated our economy. It was the first time that the US had cut taxes as they went into war and as a result they paid for it and relied heavily on funding in order to carry out their wishes. There were several problems stemming from this war including