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<h1><big><big>Cost Of Bombing ISIS Closing In On $1 Billion</big></big></h1>
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<div class="cat-date-line"><big><big><span class="cat-date-line2"><a
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all posts in Educate!" rel="category tag">Educate!</a></span>
<span class="cat-date-line3"> <a
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/economy/"
rel="tag">Finance and the Economy</a>, <a
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/isis/"
rel="tag">ISIS</a>, <a
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<span class="cat-date-line4">By Amanda Terkel, <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/isis-cost_n_5906762.html"
target="_blank">www.huffingtonpost.com</a><br>
October 2nd, 2014</span><br>
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<p><big><big><em>Photo: Huffington Post Live</em></big></big></p>
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<p><big><big>WASHINGTON — The U.S. military operations targeting
Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria have already cost
taxpayers between $780 and $930 million, according to an
analysis by an independent think tank.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
issued a <a
href="http://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2014/09/estimating-the-cost-of-operations-against-isil/"
target="_hplink">new report</a> Monday assessing how much
the military campaign has already cost (through Sept. 24)
and how much more will likely be spent in the coming months.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>CSBA estimates that if the current pace of operations
continues, the United States could <a
href="http://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2014/09/estimating-the-cost-of-operations-against-isil/"
target="_hplink">spend between $200 and $320 million a
month</a>, in a conservative estimate assuming a “moderate
level of air operations and 2,000 deployed ground forces.”</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The report uses the term “ground forces” to include
any U.S. military personnel who are sent to Iraq, whether in
a combat capacity or otherwise. In the report’s conservative
estimate, the number of ground forces includes a slight
increase from the approximately 1,600 U.S. military
personnel who are already in Iraq. President Barack Obama
has insisted that he will not send U.S. combat troops to
either Iraq or Syria.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The United States in June began stepping up support
for Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State —
also known as ISIS — in Iraq. It has been striking targeted
sites in Iraq <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/syria-airstrikes_n_5865344.html"
target="_hplink">since early August</a> and <a
href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/22/world/meast/u-s-airstrikes-isis-syria/"
target="_hplink">began bombing locations in Syria on Sept.
23</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The costs of the military campaign could, of course,
increase if the operation escalates. The report estimates
potential costs for an expanded air campaign as well as for
a much more significant deployment of ground troops. “If air
operations are conducted at a higher pace and 5,000 ground
forces are deployed, the costs would be between $350 and
$570 million per month,” write the report’s authors.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Regarding the third and most extensive option, which
the authors term “Boots on the Ground,” the report predicts:
“If operations expand significantly to include the
deployment of 25,000 U.S. troops on the ground, as some have
recommended, costs would likely reach $1.1 to $1.8 billion
per month.”</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>“On an annualized basis, the lower-intensity air
operations could cost $2.4 to $3.8 billion per year, the
higher-intensity air operations could cost $4.2 to $6.8
billion per year, and deployment of a larger ground
contingent could drive annual costs as high as $13 to $22
billion,” they conclude.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Here’s the chart from CSBA’s report:</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<center style="margin: 0px auto; width: 461px;"><big><big><img
scale="0" src="cid:part21.07050803.01080003@comcast.net"
alt="">
</big></big></center>
<big><big>Gordon Adams, a professor of U.S. foreign policy at
American University and former Office of Management and Budget
official, recently conducted a separate analysis and estimated
that the fight against the Islamic State will cost <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/syria-iraq-war-isis-costs_n_5883898.html"
target="_hplink">more than $1 billion per month</a>, or
between $15 and $20 billion per year.
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Last week, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm.
John Kirby said his “best estimate” for the operations’
current cost is “<a
href="http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5506"
target="_hplink">between $7 million and $10 million per
day</a>,” or about $210 million to $300 million per month.
That figure is far lower than Adams’ estimate and on the low
end of CSBA’s projections.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Despite the high cost of the operation, Congress <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/dennis-kucinich-war_n_5877180.html"
target="_hplink">left for its recess</a> without actually
voting on whether Obama has the authority to carry out the
military campaign.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The Obama administration has insisted the president
has this authority under two separate Authorizations for Use
of Military Force. The <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/aumf-endless-war_n_3647864.html"
target="_hplink">first authorization, from 2001</a>, gave
the president the authority to “use all necessary and
appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or
persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or
aided the terrorist attacks that <a
href="http://bit.ly/165d8aw" target="_hplink">occurred on
September 11, 2001</a>.” <a
href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ243/html/PLAW-107publ243.htm"
target="_hplink">The 2002 AUMF</a>, which authorized the
war in Iraq, addressed the threat allegedly posed by Saddam
Hussein.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Critics <a
href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119462/obama-has-weak-legal-justification-bombing-iraq-and-syria"
target="_hplink">have said</a> that these authorizations
are outdated and are not sufficient to justify the current
airstrikes. (Obama himself <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/obama-aumf-repeal_n_3328667.html"
target="_hplink">has called</a> for the repeal of the 2001
AUMF.) Several lawmakers have been pushing for a separate
authorization for the latest airstrikes and have <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/war-syria-isis_n_5869854.html"
target="_hplink">criticized their colleagues for leaving
town</a>. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), however,
has said he would prefer to <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/john-boehner-war-vote_n_5881430.html"
target="_hplink">wait until next year for a war debate</a>
rather than conduct it in the lame-duck session of Congress
that will follow the November elections.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>“Doing this with a whole group of members who are <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/09/25/?entry=685"
target="_hplink">on their way out the door</a>, I don’t
think that is the right way to handle this,” he recently
told The New York Times.</big></big></p>
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