http://threetrilliondollarwar.org The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:47:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the run-up to March 7th elections, a string of suicide bombings across Iraq have continued to target civilians and cause widespread disruptions.  Yesterday's terrible bombing killed dozens of civilians including blowing up a hospital where victims were being treated. Since August, a series of large-scale bombings aimed at government buildings ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/03/03/suicide-bombings-in-iraq-continue-to-target-civilians/ The local police are a critical factor in holding onto any gains made during the current US/NATO operations in Afghanistan.  Due to waste and ineffective efforts by the contractors hired to train and recruit Afghans to the police force, it is not clear whether they will be able to do ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/02/20/afghan-police-will-need-investment-training/ The President's budget requests $192 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year and a half, including $160 billion for the next year.  While $13.3 billion per month is a staggering figure in itself, it does not include: Funding for veterans medical care, veterans disability compensation, and ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/02/02/obama-requests-192-billion-for-wars/ The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) this week issued an audit of a $2.5 billion State Department contract with DynCorp International for training Iraq' police.  The report finds that the State department failed to oversee the contract properly, due to a shortage of staff to oversee work done ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/01/27/sigir-audit-cites-waste-in-2-5-billion-dyncorps-contract/ The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR),  issued a new report today looking at the use of grant funds given to the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. The majority of the $250 million over five years in grants was supposed ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/01/26/sigir-finds-money-for-democracy-building-in-iraq-is-misspent/ Another cost of the war continues in the form of rising suicide rates among veterans.  Despite massive intervention by the military and the VA, including a number of new programs and studies to prevent suicide among returning vets, the rate between 2005 -2007 has risen by 26%, to historic proportions, ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/01/14/26-increase-in-suicide-rate-among-male-iraqafghan-veterans/ 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 http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/01/08/record-rise-in-infant-deformities-in-fallujah/ A ceremony was held at Camp Victory in Baghdad to mark the fact that the "coalition of the willing" is now entirely composed of US troops.   Six months after the last remaining non-American coalition members (from the UK, Australia and Romania) pulled out of Iraq,  the name of the operation ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2010/01/03/iraq-operation-name-changed-from-multinational-force-iraq-to-us-forces-iraq/ Contractors outnumber US troops in Afghanistan today,  and for most of the Iraq war the number of contractors has vastly exceeded the number of American troops.  As we have noted, these contractors perform a very wide range of functions - from repairing vehicles to cooking to interrogating the enemy.  Despite ... http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2009/12/27/cnas-paper-criticizes-role-of-contractors-in-iraq-and-afghanistan/ http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/44188-how-to-finance-the-war-in-afghanistan- http://threetrilliondollarwar.org/2009/11/22/looming-afghanistan-war-costs/