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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 04/05
Hidden Costs of War
William D. Hartung
March 2003
Abstract
War Without End? The Costs of the New Military Buildup The Bush administration's war on terrorism and its proposed military intervention in Iraq have sparked the steepest increases in military and security spending in two decades.
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Since September 11, 2001, the federal government has approved over $110 billion in increased military spending and military aid. Spending on national defense is slated to reach $399 billion in the Fiscal Year 2004 budget, and to rise to over $500 billion annually by the end of this decade.
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These vast sums do not include the costs of the ongoing war in Afghanistan or a war
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Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments estimates that only 5 to 10 percent of the Fiscal Year 2003 Pentagon budget is being set aside for anti-terror activities and homeland security.
The greatest potential driver of military and security costs in the coming decade is the open-ended nature of the Bush administration's national security strategy. The administration has moved rapidly from a focus on acting against "terror networks of global reach," to a commitment to displace regional tyrants like Saddam Hussein, to a pledge to use American military might to promote "democracy and free markets" worldwide.
