The Iraq War super-charged the militarized spending that was already surging after 9/11, which totaled over $21 trillion as of 2021.
The National Priorities Project calculates that just a fraction of that
sum could have totally decarbonized the U.S. power grid, created
millions of good jobs, wiped out all student debt, and all but ended
child poverty in this country — with plenty left over.
Imagine what our world would look like today if we’d made those choices. Instead it was war, torture, mass surveillance, and other scandals that filled the space in our imagination where those dreams might have gone. Our gloomy present era of polarization and alternative facts feels like a direct result of this malaise.
-- Peter Certo, "What Did the Iraq War Really Cost?" (COUNTERPUNCH).
