War’s Hard Costs
The chart below staggers the mind, if only insofar as it makes us think about the $6 trillion we’ve spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, and what we could have done with that money. While there is no definitive answer to that question, for starters, we rank 26th in education (Kazakhstan, Slovenia and Georgia are 15th, 16th and 17th), and we rank last among the developed nations in health care.
Craig,
Unfortunately, the USA can’t “beat swords into ploughsheares”. Such an a policy would be would be irresponsible and even suicidal.
The US armed forces number less than 0.02% of the US population. Calculating military cost and contributions to the economy in such a deliberately silly and simplistic manner, is dishonest and unhelpful.
The war in Afghanistan is definitely regrettable, and at a stalemate. This would appear to be the inevitable consequence of intervening in Civil wars where no clear winner emerges.