THE COST OF WAR

The Rest of the Story

May the Scales Fall Off Our Eyes · War and Accountability · Rollin E. Trueblood, USMC (Ret.)

This morning as I was preparing to go to the gym, I flipped on the TV to hear a background noise. I saw a 7 o'clock news program, I think it was on CBS, and I believe the individual speaking was Howard Ludnick. I cannot absolutely verify that because I didn't hear his name. But the comment he made was that this is hurting some people, not most, because the cost is about $200 to the average consumer, the cost of the war, downplaying the cost of the war, continuing the deception. It ruffled the hair on my neck, made my feathers rattle. I get tired of this administration using the waggle dance to feed the citizens of this country false information.

I'm rather confident he was referring to the Strait of Hormuz almost being closed down and the cost of gas per household or individual fueling up the pump is about $200. I won't try and dispute that figure. That is reasonable. What they're not doing is giving you, as my man Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Let's identify the true cost of this war. Airfares are up 50%. Cost of diesel fuel is up 40%. Fuel prices are, as we all know, about $1.20 or so a gallon at this point. Heating oil has increased. Now, let's take all those factors into consideration. Just focusing on the cost of fuel, what other factors are intensified? Our inflation dramatically increased because of that fuel. Everything in this country is shipped by truck, rail, or airplane. Diesel fuel runs all three of those commodities. Jet fuel is JP5, a derivative of diesel fuel. Fertilize, pesticides, everything the farmers plant, the tractors, the harvesting, everything is increasing. We go to the grocery store. Do not let this deception blind your mind, thinking that the actual cost is $200. The actual cost of consumer, considering all inflation with tariffs, not just the war, since January, is over $5,000 for a family of four. Please underline that in your hearts, your mind. $5,000 for a family of four is the additional cost to the average citizen of a family of four since January under this administration.

That is just the cost of fuel-related increases because of the Strait of Hormuz being closed. There are considerable other factors as well. The cost of munitions used in this war must also be considered. In my opinion, based upon the data currently available online, a realistic estimate is that approximately 50 to 55 percent of certain categories of advanced guided munitions may have been expended. The actual numbers are highly classified, so no one outside the government can know with certainty. However, the public information available suggests that a significant portion of some stockpiles has been consumed.

The cost of those munitions is strikingly high, amounting to many billions of dollars. Official Pentagon estimates place the cost of the war at approximately $29 billion so far, while some independent analysts estimate the true cost may already exceed $70 billion when replacement of munitions, equipment losses, and related expenses are included. In addition, the administration has reportedly requested approximately $200 billion in funding associated with the conflict.

If those same dollars had been applied toward reducing the national debt instead of funding the war, the savings on interest alone would be substantial. At an interest rate of approximately 5 percent, $70 billion applied to the national debt would save roughly $3.5 billion per year in interest expense. If $200 billion were applied to debt reduction, the annual interest savings would approach $10 billion per year.

Put another way, if $200 billion were applied to reducing the national debt instead of being spent, the interest savings alone would amount to approximately $10 billion per year. Spread across roughly 258 million adult Americans, that represents about $39 per adult, every year, in interest savings alone before a single dollar of the principal debt is repaid. While $39 may not sound like a life-changing amount of money to any one individual, when multiplied across an entire nation and repeated year after year, it represents a substantial financial burden that continues to grow.

Let's look at one additional cost of this war, which is absolutely atrocious. The American servicemen have given their lives at this point. We cannot place a value on human life, nor can we place a value on those who will suffer for the rest of their life with injuries suffered already. I do not have information on the total number who were injured and the degree of severity of their injuries.

To those Americans, mothers, fathers, wives, sons, and daughters, brothers and sisters who have suffered this loss during the war, I personally want to thank you for your family member's service. We as military servicemen and women do not get to choose the wars. We do not get to choose the politics. We follow our orders, our missions. We took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, and your family members were doing that. I respect them. I thank you for their service. I'm sorry for your loss.

An additional cost of this war that this administration will not face: we bombed a school, and approximately 150 children were killed. We have done nothing more in that application than to breed new terrorists. Just as the al-Qaeda hijackers who carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001 spent years planning and preparing their operation that ultimately killed 2,977 innocent people, we should understand that those who seek revenge are often willing to think in terms of years, not days or months. Iran, or any individual motivated by the loss of family members, has the same capacity for patience, planning, and determination. That is not going to change when you kick the hornet's nest. Sooner or later, someone will get stung.

Not anyone in our government that I'm aware of, especially the President, has issued an apology or tried to console the people of Iran for this loss. Instead of saying terms like, "We will make the entire region glow," threatening to destroy infrastructure and harm innocent civilians along the way, prolonging this war that we should not be in, we should be extending the olive branch.

The eagle of our emblem holds the olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other. This is a mighty country, but it also has compassion and tolerance. We stand together unified in the defense of this country. Not in the arrogance of a Department of War, but in understanding the purpose of a Department of Defense.

Somewhere along the line, the cost of this war includes approximately 150 children buried in rubble, killed needlessly.

In this series, I have encouraged you to let the scales fall off your eyes. I have used the analogy of sitting in the eye doctor's chair while he places the apparatus over your face and flips through different lenses, asking, "Is one better, or is two better?" Don't fall prey to the waggle dance of an administration trying to convince you, especially with midterm elections approaching, that the cost of this war is only $200 per person. It is far greater than that.

When they tell you that gas prices will immediately fall once the war is over, that is misleading as well. If infrastructure has been destroyed, if oil production has been disrupted, and if shipping routes have been interrupted, it will take time for those systems to recover. Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is already significantly below its full capacity and must eventually be replenished. All the damage done throughout the supply chain must be repaired before any true sense of normalcy can return.

History also teaches us something important. Once a major commodity experiences a sharp inflationary spike, it rarely returns to its previous level. Businesses adapt to higher costs, wages adjust, transportation costs increase, and consumers become accustomed to paying more. Those who profit from those increases are seldom eager to reverse them. As the cost of groceries, transportation, labor, and other goods rises, energy prices tend to settle at a new normal rather than returning to where they once stood. That is another part of the story that is too often left untold.

— Rollin E. Trueblood, USMC (Ret.)