The Cost of US Security

Hugh Pickens writes "The Atlantic reports that as we mark Osama bin Laden's death, what's striking is how much he cost our nation and how little we've gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the US at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down. 'What do we have to show for that tab,' ask Tim Fernholz and Jim Tankersley. 'Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt.' In 2004 bin Laden explicitly compared the US fight to the Afghan incursion that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 'We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy,' said bin Laden, adding that that every dollar spent by al-Qaida in attacking the US has cost Washington $1m in economic fallout and military spending."

I wonder if he really said that...

[rsilvergun]

he'd be pretty dumb if he did. Seriously. The wars have mostly been a money grab for Halliburton and co, which suits the American Corporate ruling class just fine. Hell, fear of terrorists has set back the labor movement in the US 100 years, again, good for the sort of folk that have been in favor of meddling in the Middle East for years. Plus the wars are helping to keep these people in power. 9/11 was the best thing that could happen to global corporations. People stopped asking why their wages are falling and started cringing in fear of all them tarrafyin' tarrarists.

And of course, who could for get the Best. Chart. Ever. [nationaljournal.com] Thanks Bush. It's amazing how much damage one administration can do in such a short time when you let 'em do whatever the heck they want...

Drop in the bucket

[Anonymous Coward]

US economic output exceed $150 trillion dollars in the last 15 years. $3 trillion could have been better spent, but it's 2%. Current deficit spending will do far more damage to future generations than Bin Laden could ever hope for.

Re:I wonder if he really said that...

[rhook]

You mean like giving trillions to failed banks during the first month in office, oops that was Obama.

Re:I wonder if he really said that...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi. The TARP bailout was signed by Bush. It's pretty telling that people pin that on Obama. And I don't fault Bush either. A large portion of the bailout for banks has been repaid. Seriously, people.

Re:too positive

[Repossessed]

Nah, security has improved.

They put locks on the cockpit doors. This was a great idea.

Re:as said before here many times

[buglista]

Apart from all the non-Muslim terrorists like Shining Path, the Maoist rebels in India, LTTE (Tamil Tigers) as was, the continuity/real IRA, UVF, etc. Terrorists are not all Muslim; there was a viable IED found in a bus not too far from Dublin today.