Observation.
Aug. 10th, 2010 02:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maradyddAccording to the military field reports released on Wikileaks, the NYT, Der Spiegel and the Guardian known as the Afghan War Diaries, the number of enemy fatalities in Afghanistan from January 2004 to December 2009 was 15,219. Given the response of the Pentagon to the documents, I think we can safely accept this as a lower bound on the actual number.
According to the report "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War On Terror Operations Since 9/11", prepared by Amy Belasco of the Congressional Research Service for the United States Congress, page 13, the aggregate budget authority for Operation Enduring Freedom for FY 2004 through FY 2009 was $191.2 billion. (In the interest of accuracy, note that these two timespans do not correlate exactly; the fiscal year for the U.S. military and government begins on October 1st.)
Going by these numbers, we have spent roughly $12.56 million per Afghan enemy scalp during this six-year period.
Rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero who developed serious health problems, and the families of rescue and recovery workers who died as a result of such health problems, can expect less than $100,000 apiece in compensation.
According to the report "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War On Terror Operations Since 9/11", prepared by Amy Belasco of the Congressional Research Service for the United States Congress, page 13, the aggregate budget authority for Operation Enduring Freedom for FY 2004 through FY 2009 was $191.2 billion. (In the interest of accuracy, note that these two timespans do not correlate exactly; the fiscal year for the U.S. military and government begins on October 1st.)
Going by these numbers, we have spent roughly $12.56 million per Afghan enemy scalp during this six-year period.
Rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero who developed serious health problems, and the families of rescue and recovery workers who died as a result of such health problems, can expect less than $100,000 apiece in compensation.