What is the "cash value" of the environmental cost of going to war in Iraq?

Question

What is the "cash value" of the environmental cost of going to war in Iraq?

Answer 1

It's easy to look at the cash cost of the war and look at the environmental opportunity cost.  

We've spent about $500 billion so far on Bush's War of Terror.  It only costs about $120 per person living in a developed country to offset carbon emissions for a year, so that money could have completely offset the carbon emissions of the entire U.S. population for a decade, or bought Kyoto-sized offsets for about 100 years.  That doesn't count the carbon savings we could have had by not running tanks, Humvees, aircraft carriers, etc.

Answer 2

It is indeterminant.  For example, there is no way to know what other environmental crimes Sadam would have committed such as setting the Kuwaiti oil fields afire if he were allowed to continue violating UN cease fire agreements.

Answer 3

personally  i dont know , but its to much in my opnion . they did not send there troops to fix our country  on there phycho plann on 9/11 . nore any other counrty they have destructed since. we should worry about fixing our own before we think we can fix another

Answer 4

somewhere between 0 and 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000... billion dollars.

Answer 5

First of all, despite what the media tells us, this is not a "war." It is an invasion of a sovereign country concluding with an empire-building occupation. The invasion, by all accounts, was illegal from the perspective of the UN charter (and most people on earth).

I don't know the "cash value", but you will need to calculate a total that includes:

- Cost of loss of life, mental and physical injuries, and human displacements.

- Greenhouse gas emissions for manufacture of military equipment. (very costly)

- Damage to environment caused by heavy concrete barrier construction and transport costs for blocks from Turkey to Iraq. Damage to Iraqi environment due to local concrete works. Displacement of workers from other parts of the world.

- Fuel burns for jets, transports, ships, tanks, and other vehicles.

- Extra pumping of oil from Iraq that simply delays the "peak oil" crisis and accelerates the burning of fossil fuels worldwide.

I'm sure there are many more costs that impact the environment including bombings and placement of land mines.

Answer 6

It's very difficult to put a cash value on such things.  It would have to be in the tens of billions at least.