War costing US $12B a month

Nominal GDP 2006 của VN là $60 tỉ, nghĩa là cả nước VN làm 1 năm đổi giá trị hàng hoá ra tiền đô đuợc ngần ấy. Tiền xây một cái đê chống bão cấp 5 cho thành phố New Orleans của Mỹ là 10 tỉ, nhưng chính quyền Mỹ 0 có tiền chi! Trong khi tiền chi phí cho chiến tranh ở Iraq và Afghanistan mỗi tháng là $12 tỉ. Từ 09/11/2001 đến nay là $650 tỉ, khoảng bằng tổng chi phí của cuộc chiến của Mỹ ở VN.

$650 tỉ này chạy đi đâu? Nó vào túi của các Cty súng đạn và hậu cần của Mỹ, trong đó có ~ Cty cũ của Dick Cheney, Donald Rumfeld, và Condi Rice. Dân Mỹ sẽ đóng thuế trả tiền này và chịu tổn thất về nhân mạng. Tội nhất là ng Iraq là bị tổn thất nặng nhất và trở thành bãi chiến trường cho ng` ta thử vũ khí và trục lợi. Hậu quả nặng nề này rồi sẽ tồn tại qua nhiều thế hệ.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070709/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq_costs

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.

The figures come from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which provides research and analysis to lawmakers.

For the 2007 budget year, CRS says, the $166 billion appropriated to the Pentagon represents a 40 percent increase over 2006.

The Vietnam War, after accounting for inflation, cost taxpayers $650 billion, according to separate CRS estimates.

The $12 billion a month "burn rate" includes $10 billion for Iraq and almost $2 billion for Afghanistan, plus other minor costs. That's higher than Pentagon estimates earlier this year of $10 billion a month for both operations. Two years ago, the average monthly cost was about $8 billion.

Among the reasons for the higher costs is the cost of repairing and replacing equipment worn out in harsh conditions or destroyed in combat.

But the estimates call into question the Pentagon's estimate that the increase in troop strength and intensifying pace of operations in Baghdad and Anbar province would cost only $5.6 billion through the end of September.

If Congress approves President Bush's pending request for another $147 billion for the budget year starting Oct. 1, the total bill for the war on terror since Sept. 11 would reach more than three-fourths of a trillion dollars, with appropriations for Iraq reaching $567 billion.

Also, if the increase in war tempo continues beyond September, the Pentagon's request "would presumably be inadequate," CRS said.

The latest estimates come as support for the war in Iraq among Bush's GOP allies in Congress is beginning to erode. Senior Republicans such as Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Richard Lugar of Indiana have called for a shift in strategy in Iraq and a battle over funding the war will resume in September, when Democrats in Congress begin work on a funding bill for the war.

Congress approved $99 billion in war funding in May after a protracted battle and a Bush veto of an earlier measure over Democrats' attempt to set a timeline for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

The report faults the Pentagon for using the Iraq war as a pretext for boosting the Pentagon's non-war budget by costs such as procurement, increasing the size of the military and procurement of replacement aircraft as war-related items.