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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0618-01.htm
U.S Military Budget Heading Towards Cold War Levels
2003 "The world spent $784 billion on arms last year."

http://www.sipri.org/contents/publications/recent.html
SIPRI Yearbook 2005: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security
Pocket-size Summary Editions In English

2004 World military expenditure in 2004 is estimated to have
been $1035 billion.

Military expenditure
.. World military expenditure in 2004 is estimated to have
been $1035 billion. This is just 6% lower in real terms than at
the 1987-88 peak of cold war world military spending. Globally,
it corresponds to $162 per capita and 2.6% of world
GDP, but there is wide variation between regions and countries.
.. The average annual rate of increase in world military
expenditure in 1995-2004 was 2.4% in real terms. This
encompasses the post-cold war reduction in military spending,
which culminated around 1998, and an increasing trend
since 1998.
.. The rate of increase has accelerated in recent years,
averaging 6% per annum over the period 2002-2004. The
USA, which makes up 47% of the world total, is the major
determinant of this trend. US military expenditure increased
rapidly during the period 2002-2004 as a result of the 'global
war on terrorism', primarily for military operations in Afghanistan
and Iraq. Supplementary appropriations for these operations
for 2003-2005 amounted to $238 billion, exceeding the
combined military spending of the entire developing world in
2004 ($214 billion).
.. There was growing debate in 2004 on the sustainability of
the USA's current military efforts. Questions were raised
about the contribution of military expenditure to the country's
growing deficit and its future impact on economic growth. A
related concern is whether military expenditure will crowd out
non-military government expenditure. The debate has been
exacerbated by uncertainties over future trends in expenditure
for military operations in Iraq.


The Iraq Quagmire: The Mounting Costs of War and the Case for Bringing Home the Troops
By Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver and the IPS Iraq Task Force | August 31, 2005
http://fpif.org/pdf/reports/0508IraqQuagmire.pdf

"The Iraq Quagmire" is a comprehensive accounting of the mounting costs and consequences
of the Iraq War on the United States, Iraq, and the world. Among its major findings are figures
that quantify the continuing costs since the Iraqi elections, a period that the Bush administration
claimed would be characterized by a reduction in the human and economic costs.

Aspects examined in this report are evaluated in terms of human, social, financial and economic costs.

According to current estimates, the cost of the Iraq War could exceed $700 billion. In current dollars,
the Vietnam War cost U.S. taxpayers $600 billion. Operations costs in Iraq are estimated at
$5.6 billion per month in 2005. By comparison, the average cost of U.S. operations in Vietnam
over the eight-year war was $5.1 billion per month, adjusting for inflation.
The report's authors also state that staying in Iraq and Afghanistan at current
levels would nearly double the projected US federal budget deficit over the next decade.



Hvem var det der sage at kriminalitet(War on Terror) ikke betaler sig.



Jan Rasmussen