We still have 10,000 - 13,000 uniforms there, and they're still being killed.
22,000 casualties, with 2,200 dead.
The cost of veterans’ medical and disability payments over the next 40 years will be more than $1 trillion, according to Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public finance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The cost of caring for war veterans typically peaks in the three or four decades after a conflict, she said.
More than 320,000 soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq have traumatic brain injuries that cause disorientation and confusion, as of 2018. Of those, more than 8,000 suffered severe or invasive brain injuries, and more than 1,600 soldiers lost all or part of a limb. More than 138,000 have post-traumatic stress disorder. They experience flashbacks, hypervigilance, and difficulty sleeping.
On average, 20 veterans commit suicide each day according to a 2016 VA study. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found that 47% of its members know of someone who has attempted suicide after returning from active duty. The group considers veteran suicide to be its top issue.
Cost to Economy
The war in Afghanistan is second only to the $4.1 trillion dollars (inflation-adjusted) spent during World War II.
Unlike earlier wars, most American families did not feel impacted by the Afghanistan War. There was no draft and no tax imposed directly to pay for the war. Future generations also will pay for the addition to the debt. Researcher Ryan Edwards estimates that the U.S. incurred an extra $453 billion in interest on the debt to pay for the wars in the Middle East. Over the next 40 years, these costs will add $7.9 trillion to the debt.
Companies, particularly small businesses, were disrupted by National Guard and Reserve call-ups. The economy also has been deprived of the productive contributions of the service members killed, wounded, or psychologically traumatized.
And we're right back to being stuck - just like the hippies warned us. DOD has reported that recruitment and retention are lagging because of the effects of the persistent stalemate in theater.
And, of course, we've fallen into the bullshit brain trap that says we're not getting it done on the ground so let's drop lots more bombs - cuz we gotta do something(?)
In the backdrop of peace negotiations to end the 18-year long war U.S. aircraft are bombing the hell out of theTaliban and other militants as the warring parties slog through never-ending discussions to bring the fighting to a close.
According to U.S. Air Forces Central Command, U.S. aircraft dropped 7,423 munitions in 2019 — that’s the highest number of bombs released in nearly a decade.
In 2018, U.S. warplanes dropped 7,362 bombs — the second highest total in a year thus far since AFCENT began publishing the number of munitions released in Afghanistan.
And the kicker - in the view of John Sopko, IG for Afghanistan Reconstruction, we've created an incentive for the guys on the ground to paint nice blue-sky pictures for their bosses up the chain that morphed into flat-out lies.
(This should start at 51:30, thru about 54:00)
45* asked, "Where's my Roy Cohn", and he's got him now.
I'd like to know, "Where's our Daniel Elsberg"? But then, it doesn't seem to matter because we've known for quite a while that things aren't going well, and we just stay at it.
A self-licking ice cream cone.
"We've" been warring....? If it's "we" then "we" must want it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what that means. What point are you trying to make?
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