14/05/2008
The Three Trillion Dollar War
Stiglitz: A Radical Thinker against the War in Iraq

In the House of Commons, the celebrated economist Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Prize Winner of Economics in 2005) revealed the true cost of military presence in Iraq in his recently published book, “The Trillion Dollar War”. Guests of honour at the event were Ambassadors Samuel Moncada of Venezuela, René Mujica of Cuba and Simon Collis of Syria.

With inspired economic reasoning, backed up with impressive statistics, the Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, captured the attention of the audience in the British Houses of Parliament 30 April, as he divulged the true cost of the war in Iraq.

Stiglitz’s struggle can count on the support of Venezuela
To open the conference the Ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Samuel Moncada, said a few words: “Not only is Stiglitz an academic and an original thinker in the field of economics, he is also a radical thinker against neo-Liberalism. As a traditional economist he combines  practice and theory,  and cares deeply about the future of the world.” Ambassador Moncada added that he also felt proud to have been invited to this event, as the struggle of Dr. Joseph Stiglitz “to bring to the forefront the truth underlying an unjust war could count on the support of the Venezuelan nation”.

During his conference, Dr, Stiglitz presented economic facts that advise immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi territory, since the cost of military presence there is proving detrimental to society in the United States. “50 million Americans do not receive health care, this, in a first world country. The United States does not consider health care a basic human right,” said Stiglitz after his examinations revealed that for the same cost of the War in Iraq the American health system could have been funded for the next 50 -70 years.

There is an epidemic of children in America being born with Autism and for the same cost of merely four hours of war, research into the illness could be doubled, proposed Dr. Stiglitz.

Hidden costs of a senseless war
The budget proposed by the Bush Administration for the war was also a target of great criticism from Professor Stiglitz, who stated that budgeting for the war has proved completely inefficient. Initially the cost of war had been estimated at between 50-60 billion dollars, “however this is merely the cost of war every four months,” explained Stiglitz. According to his own calculations, Stiglitz conservatively estimates the cost of the war at 3 trillion, as reflected by the title of his recent book. He adds that his less conservative figures estimate the true cost at between four and five trillion US dollars.

The cost of returning veterans was never budgeted for, which adds to the hidden costs behind this war. “30% of returning soldiers receive disability allowance.” Added to this cost is the budget necessary to treat 52.000 soldiers that suffer from Post-traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD).  There is already a backlog of 400,000 soldiers waiting to be treated.

Foreign Debt and Plastic Money
Among other facts emphasized by Professor Stiglitz was that when President Bush took office in January 2001, US foreign debt stood at 5.7 trillion dollars, a figure accumulated over 200 years of history. However, Bush has managed to increase this figure by 30% in just five years.

To put it bluntly, the entire Iraq War has been financed on a “credit card”, the metaphor chosen by Stiglitz to display this fact. “All the money spent on combat is borrowed.” “In fact, 40% of the total US expenditure has been financed by foreigners,” explained the Nobel Prize Winner. Therefore the USA will have to pay interest on the sum it has borrowed, further adding to the hidden cost of the War.

Stiglitz explained that the poor accounting framework employed by the Department of Defence would be considered practically fraudulent if used by ordinary companies. “This undermines the democratic process. Ironically one of the main reasons for going to war with Iraq was to defend democracy,” he said.

According to the prestigious economist, the Bush administration have kept many details of the War a secret from the public, in the same way they did not take into account the cost of the returning veterans, they play down the number of casualties in the war by not including those injured in non-combat situations.

Withdrawal from Iraq? A dilemma?
Withdrawing troops from Iraq now could leave the country in chaos but it could also be beneficial for the Iraqis. Withdrawing in four years time could also cause chaos but could also be beneficial, according to Stiglitz’s explanation. “How less worse will it be if the USA withdraws now or in 4 years?” asked Stiglitz before responding that leaving now or later seems to make little difference.  However four more years of combat would cost another 1.2 trillion dollars. “US$ 5000 a second is spent on a war that was declared under false pretext, because as we now know, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and no connection to the 9/11 attacks on the USA.”

Syria affected by violence in Iraq
2007 was the most violent year since the start of the war. Therefore when American officials say that violence is decreasing, they actually mean that violence levels are back to the levels of 2006. “The Bush administration is deceiving the American public at astounding levels.”

In Iraq, there are now half the number of doctors there were in 2003. Many have left the country whilst others have been killed. An estimated 1 million Iraqi people have been killed due to the effects of the war, in other words not directly attacked but as a result of the war.

Also present at the conference was the Ambassador to Syria who presented disturbing figures of Iraqi refugees in his country. “In Syria there are now 20,000 Iraqi doctors, 10,000 university professors, 30,000 engineers. Astonishingly a massive 50,000 Iraqi women have turned to prostitution in order to survive, and for the Muslim culture, prostitution, is not something to be taken lightly or something socially acceptable,” emphasized Ambassador Collis.

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