http://threetrilliondollarwar.org The True Cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:23:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en DOD has reported that the Fully Burdened Cost of Fuel (FBCF) -- the average cost of importing fuel into Afghanistan -- is about $400. This confirms the findings of the Defense Science Board in 2008, which estimated the FBCF as "several hundred dollars per gallon". Fuel and water are ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/07/21/us-military-is-spending-400-per-barrel-to-import-fuel-into-afghanistan/ // // The number of Army suicides in June 2010 was the highest number in a single month since the Vietnam era.  Thirty-two troops are believed to have committed suicide.  Of those, 21 were on active duty, seven were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, and ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/07/18/army-suicides-hit-record-number-in-june-2010/ The Department of Veterans Affairs has finally made the sensible decision to simplify the eligibility for veterans to obtain disability compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  This is a move that we have championed for the past three years, since the medical community has confirmed that returning veterans are ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/07/13/new-ptsd-regulations-help-veterans-suffering-from-ptsd-to-claim-benefits-more-easily-will-cost-billions/ On February 12, 2003  Senator Robert C. Byrd delivered the first in a series of poignant speeches against the Iraq War.  He warned that we were about to embark on a moral and financial catastrophe.  As the Senator now lies in state,  we pay tribute to his words. To contemplate war ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/07/02/re-reading-senator-byrds-speech-on-the-iraq-war/ KABUL—More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/06/28/wsj-reports-3-billion-of-us-aid-is-diverted-from-afghanistan/ The Washington Post reported yesterday that the US government has spent close to $2 billion on constructing and operating the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay since 2001. The Pentagon spent $500 million on site improvements, including volleyball courts, playgrounds, and go-karts.  We have spent $683,000 to renovate a cafe that sells ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/06/09/guantanamo-bay-will-cost-nearly-2-billion/ As the US builds up its forces and increasing optempo in Afghanistan, the monthly operating costs for the war in Afghanistan are now growing higher than the monthly operating expenditures in Iraq.  The US still has more than 90,000 US troops in Iraq, but the majority are in "non-combat" positions ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/05/14/monthly-war-costs-in-afghanistan-exceed-iraq/ One of the hidden costs in the Defense Budget that we identified in the Three Trillion Dollar War was the increasing cost of providing medical care to currently serving troops through TRICARE. TRICARE is the military health care program serving active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees, ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/04/25/military-health-care-costs-increase-by-167-since-2001/ March 20th marks the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.   The day before, a 26-year old soldier from Milwaukee,  Robert Rieckhoff -- father of an 8-year old son and a 4-year old daughter -- was killed in Iraq after a rocket-propelled grenade hit the watchtower where he was ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/03/21/us-media-ignores-7th-anniversary-of-iraq-war-as-us-soldier-is-killed-by-grenade/ Despite the numerous problems that have been discovered with Blackwater contracts and subcontracts  -- ranging from poor electrical wiring that electrocuted several soldiers in the shower to allegations of fraud, profiteering, waste and abuse -- the US government continues to spend billions of dollars per year with this contractor.   The ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/03/16/gao-blocks-expansion-of-contracts-to-blackwater-xe/