War At Any Price?

November 13, 2007: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer released a report entitled War At Any Price?, discussing the hidden costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

1. Includes indirect costs such as long term veteran's health care, foregone investment, oil market disruptions and interest payments
2. Estimated cost of the wars: Roughly $1.6 trillion

• Google News: Hidden War Costs
• The Washington Post: Republicans Seek Retraction of Report on Wars' 'Hidden Costs' (November 14, 2007)
• AFP: US Republicans demand retraction of Iraq report (November 14, 2007)
  • Republicans issued a statement suggesting the report was a partisan attempt to manipulate public opinion and full of inaccuracies.

• The Washington Post: 'Hidden Costs' Double Price Of Two Wars, Democrats Say (November 13, 2007)
  • White House press secretary Dana Perino dismissed the report as an attempt to draw attention away from recent positive news from Iraq.

• AP: Report Puts Hidden War Costs at $1.6T (November 13, 2007)

• AntiWar.com: Inflation - The Hidden Cost of War (January 30, 2007)
  • According to House Representative Ron Paul, much of the war has been funded through supplemental spending bills which get passed independently of normal appropriations, a tactic which he believes is intended to hide the true cost of war from the American taxpayer.

Yellow:=Direct War Costs Red=Total Economic Costs (Image by Senate.gov)