October 4, 2011, Washington, DC (The American Conservative) – But when it comes to a war that has been rampaging — and now slogging — for a decade, it is important that from time to time we look to numbers for some clarity. Strip down the politics and even the emotion and look at the cost — the human cost — in numbers.
They are indeed men, and women, with families and lovers and friends and companions — but wow, this statistical snapshot, provided by Veterans for Common Sense this (VCS) week in its “Iraq and Afghanistan War Impact Report,” is a critical story in itself.
Fiscal conservatives will be alarmed by the implicit long-term taxpayer cost, which goes far beyond war operations and ginormous private contractor budgets. Social conservatives cannot ignore for long the corrosive effect of so many multiple deployments, suicides and long-term injuries, including PTSD and traumatic brain disorder (TBI), on the family and the community.
Just a taste — for footnotes and sources click here.