Recent Posts

• What have we learned from Iraq?
• Five Painful Lessons from the Iraq War
• Defense Dept is now the ONLY federal government agency to flunk its audit
• Ten Years in Afghanistan
• New Op-ed in Los Angeles Times by Bilmes and Stiglitz
• Recent commentary by the authors on the costs of 9/11
• Rising US death toll in Afghanistan: lessons from history
• Gloomy reports detail huge fraud, waste and corruption in contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan
• NY Times looks at rising cost of veterans care
• Brown University study estimates cost of wars at $3.7 Trillion since 2001
• Congress considers legislation that would require estimates of the true cost of war
• Stiglitz Bilmes new book chapter in the Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Peace and Conflict
• Wars are one of the main reasons why the US debt is so high
• Reprint: Washington Post article on the true cost of war
• British withdraw from Iraq

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Another hidden cost of war — the tragic plight of infants in Fallujah.

Read:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects

The US taxpayer reimburses private insurance companies to provide medical coverage to  contractors serving in a war zone (because it is deemed too risky for a private company to voluntarily provide such coverage).  Despite this,  Congress is investigating allegations that insurance giant AIG, which was supposed to offer medical coverage to the US contractors working for KBR, failed to provide this coverage.  This finding was reported in the Three Trillion Dollar War.  Read more:

http://www.propublica.org/feature/comments/aig-faces-hearing-on-denial-of-medical-claims-by-contractors-injured-608

The Ministry of Health in Iraq has confirmed 327 new cases of cholera since August 20th, 2008. The outbreak has reached nine provinces, including Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, Najaf, Diyala, Anbar, Babil, Diwaniya and Maysan. Dozens of new suspected cases are being investigated throughout the country.

The latest information from Veterans for Common Sense shows a continued increase in the number of veterans who are seeking medical care from VA hospitals and clinics, and another steep increase in the number of returning troops who are diagnosed with mental health conditions.

The latest numbers show tha4 347,750 (40% of all patients) have been treated at VA medical facilities.

147,744 have been treated for mental health problems, of whom about half have been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  For complete records, see:

May/June 2008

Part I: Brain Trauma in Iraq
Thousands of U.S. soldiers have survived powerful explosions. Many are returning home with brain injuries that could result in lingering disabilities.
By Emily Singer
Read more here

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