Added on PressTV Oct 3, 2010 Stop Occupations in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq An estimated quarter of a million people have staged a rally at The Lincoln Memorial in Washington against US President Barack Obama's policies. Some 250,000 protesters from all over the US attended the rally, themed 'Jobs, Justice and Education,' to mobilize those who support the Democrats to turn out and vote in the mid-term elections and demonstrate against the billions of dollars being spent on war instead of jobs.
A new study on the long-term costs of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq doubles initial estimates, suggesting the revised six-trillion-dollar figure.
The study by Nobel Prize winner for economics Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University Professor Linda Bilmes details how the cost of the two wars, widely publicized as the 'war against terror,' could end up costing the American tax payers a whopping $6 trillion.
The authors of the study revised their own earlier figures, published in a 2008 book titled "The 3 Trillion Dollar War," criticized at the time by US officials as exaggerated.
The new study cites the growing cases of veterans seeking post-combat medical care for the revised figure, alluding to reports that some 600,000 US veterans of the still on-going wars have sought various treatments for their physical and mental injuries.
Moreover, an estimated half a million other veterans have reportedly applied for disability benefits while treatment costs are said to be 30 percent higher than initial estimates.
"The medical bill alone could end up costing the US more than 1 trillion dollars," said Blimes.
The treatment cost of the growing cases of major mental injuries such as the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is expected to drastically climb in time. Such medical bills were initially not taken into account in original cost estimates.
"This may be more of a crisis than the Medicare and Social Security problems we have looming. It rivals both in the potential impact. This is another entitlement we've committed ourselves to, and it could break the bank," said Rep. Bob Filner, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the US Congress.
With more US troop deployments yet planned for Afghanistan and no concrete date offered by the Obama administration for a complete withdrawal of forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, the overall cost of the two war for the US could indeed climb very high.
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