Insight: The mind-boggling cost of the U.S.-led Iraq invasion

Rizal Sukma , Jakarta | Tue, 03/18/2008 1:13 AM | Headlines

Five years ago, on 19 March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. As predicted, it took only a few weeks for the U.S. war machine to defeat the Iraqi armed forces and occupy the country.

The U.S. has now been in Iraq for five years, but its stated objectives, of unveiling weapons of mass destruction and bringing democracy to Iraq, have become increasingly distant.

The war continues, and how it will eventuate remains difficult to predict, but equally disturbing is the financial burden the war has become.

Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, in their new book The Three Trillion Dollar War, estimate its Iraq conflict has cost the U.S. around $3 trillion*

With this mind-boggling amount of money, the U.S. could have addressed its current economic problems -- which are now severely affecting the health of global economy.

Unfortunately, the money has been spent in a failed project. Of course, war is always costly, but the American war with Iraq has been a major drain to not only the U.S. but also Iraq and the rest of the world.

The war has undermined America's political image, across the globe, especially in the Muslim world. For most Iraqis life was ironically much better under the despotic and cruel regime of Saddam Hussein.

If we add the $3 trillion to the lost lives of Americans, Iraqis and other nationalities, then can easily arrive at the conclusion this war has been, and continues to be, one of the saddest tragedies in human history.

It becomes even more disturbing when one considers the uncertain outcomes of the invasion. So far, very little has been accomplished. In fact, problems of all sorts continue to blossom in Iraq, with repercussions felt across the globe.

Imagine what the U.S. could have done with the $3 trillion. In their book, Stiglitz and Bilmes suggest the U.S. could have developed a "Marshall Plan for the Middle East, or developing countries, that might actually have succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of the people there."

However, by spending the money on war, the outcome has been exactly the opposite. Various surveys clearly show international respect for the U.S. has declined significantly.

Indeed, the cost poses an even a more visible irony when one considers the problems of poverty the world faces.

Three years ago, Jeffrey Sachs, another outstanding American economist from Columbia University in New York, published a book entitled The End of Poverty.

He suggests, "a transfer of 0.6 percent of donor income, amounting to $124 billion, would in theory raise all 1.1 billion of the world's extreme poor to a basic-needs level."

This amount is only a small fraction of what the U.S. has spent in Iraq in its five-year conflict.

Going to war, as Stiglitz and Bilmes maintain, "is a big business" and is costly. Therefore, any calculations of the cost it would entail, both in terms of human life and material costs, are imperative.

Unless one really has a good and just reason to engage in this primitive way of problem solving, every country should do its best to avoid going to war. In wars, no one emerges as a victor. Whenever a state decides to go to war, humanity suffers.

For the U.S., and also for the international community, the Iraq conflict has become a great dilemma. Continuing and trying to implant democracy in the country seems as futile as ever.

While the U.S. is still the richest country on earth, spending trillions of dollars is hardly a rational option, but a 'pack up and leave' option would not be that easy either. The situation in Iraq, would undoubtedly become even worse than it already is.

So, what should the U.S. do? I wish I knew the answer. However, a golden opportunity may present itself after the U.S. elections in 2008. Many around the world hope a new U.S. would emerge. That, again, will depend on how Americans cast their vote.

The writer is the deputy executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.

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