The war in Iraq from the outset was very
controversial in the United States and other Western countries.The opponents considered the cost of the
war in Iraq as a heavy burden on the US taxpayers and wanted to prevent the
invasion of Iraq in 2003, and have called for a halt to the war in Iraq
repeatedly since its beginning.
Lately, various US groups and
institutions have rallied to highlight this issue once again. “The Costs of War
Project” is one of the research projects on the costs of the war in Iraq that
begun its evaluation of the costs since 2011. The project is being observed and
managed by Dr. Neta C. Crawford, Professor and Chair of Political Science at
Boston University, examining the key features and effects of the Iraq War on the
federal budget.
According to the latest report says that
even if the US administration decides to pull out all of its troops in Iraq
immediately, the war has already cost US$1,922 billion to the US tax payers
voters from 2003 to the end of 2019. This amount not only includes funding
appropriated by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for the war, but also the
costs of the care of Iraq War veterans and interests on debt incurred for the
16 years of the US military's involvement in the country.
The DoD had allotted approximately US$838
billion for military operations in Iraq from the fiscal year 2003 to 2019,
including operations fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Aside from the Defense
Department costs, the State Department added approximately US$59 billion to the
total costs of the Iraq War for The United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) on Iraq and Syria. Since 9/11 attacks, about US$4.1 billion
has been spent on medical and disability care of war veterans and
compensation.
These costs came at the time when the
Pentagon has been trying to cut its expenditures for the past decade after its
annual US$140 billion funds for the Iraq War heightened in 2008. In some
cases, Congress has appropriated funding required for the war in Iraq apart
from previous approved plans.
It is worth mentioning that the EU
budget with 27 member countries and a population of 446 million people was set
at US$175 billion in 2018. Therefore, a question is being asked, why is the war
in Iraq still going on, despite the massive economic costs?
Some experts consider the ideological
orientation of US foreign policy to be one of the main reasons for the
continued war in Iraq. From this point of view, Washington is trying to
confront its ideological opponents rather than adopting short-term approach
toward issues and the costs and benefits of the implementation of its policies.
On top of all Washington considers Islamic
Republic of Iran as its most important ideological opponent, which has been
openly defying the US policies. Therefore, White House leaders find it
necessary to continue the war in Iraq to confront Iran.
Therefore, withdrawal of US troops from
Iraq is being considered as a major defeat for the United States. That is the
reason the US continues to insist on maintaining its presence and even
expanding its military bases in Iraq, despite the massive financial costs and
the Iraqi parliament’s resolution for expulsion of foreign troops.
Washington knows it very well that the
withdrawal of its troops from Iraq will be taken as a sign of its defeat. It
also knows that this defeat will be the opposite of the "America
First" populist slogan.