End the War!

I'd like to meet:

DOLLAR FIGURES: THE COST OF IRAQ As of September 29, 2006, over $379 billion has been allocated by the U.S. Congress for the Iraq war. The direct costs of the war and occupation have not been included in the regular defense spending request (with the exception of FY 2007); instead, President Bush has submitted emergency spending bills to Congress to cover those costs. The current rate of U.S. expenditure in Iraq is approximately $6.4 billion a month.As of March 2006, approximately £4.5 billion had been spent by the United Kingdom in Iraq. All of this money has come from a government fund called the "Special Reserve" which has a current allocation of £6.44 billion.It is not known how much more money has been spent by other members of the coalition; however, the US's share of the cost is by far the largest.Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and Nobel Prize in Economics, has suggested the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be $1 trillion in a conservative scenario and could top $2 trillion in a moderate one. The Congressional Research Service recently estimated weekly spending at almost $2 billion per week, and that total expenditures have now topped half a trillion dollars. Additionally, the extended combat and equipment loss have placed a severe financial strain on the U.S Army, causing the elimination of non-essential expenses such as travel and civilian hiring.Data from the Office of Management and Budget shows that the discretionary defense spending is 20% of government outlays,[74] and the CIA World Factbook lists a 2005 estimate of U.S. military expenditure as 4.06% of GDP (the 26th position in a listing of 167 countries). Other figures, however, show that the total defense expenditures (Department of Defense, Homeland Security and War on Terror) amount to $563 billion, which represents 56% of the nation's discretionary budget and 47% of the world military spending.U.S. equipment losses An IED hitting a US HumveeIn addition to the human casualties suffered in the war, the U.S. has also lost a number of pieces of military equipment. This total is approximate and includes those vehicles lost in non-combat-related accidents. Recently, the Army has said that the cost of replacing its depleted equipment has tripled from that of 2005. On December 5 2006, the military stated that nearly 40% of the army’s total equipment has been lost in Iraq, with an estimated yearly replacement cost of $US 17 billion. Furthermore the military states that the replacement cost has increased by a factor of ten compared to that of the pre-war state.Combat losses: Land equipment20 M1 Abrams tanks 55 Bradley fighting vehicles 20 Stryker wheeled combat vehicles 20 M113 armored personnel carriers 250 Humvees 500+ Mine clearing vehicles, heavy/medium trucks, and trailers 10 Amphibious Assault Vehicles Combat losses: Air equipment The UH-60 Black Hawk that crashed on September 21, 200427 Apache attack helicopters 21 Blackhawk utility helicopters 14 Chinook cargo helicopters 23 Kiowa surveillance helicopters 4 CH-46E Sea Knight cargo helicopters 1 A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft 1 F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft 2 UH-1N Huey utility helicopters 8 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters 5 CH-53E Super Stallion or MH-53 Pave Low helicopters 2 H-3 Sea King helicopters 25+ RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles 3 F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft 2 C-130 Hercules aircraft 1 F-16 Fighting FalconCG (90-0776)