<story><title>U.S. federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $8T</title><url>https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AdamJacobMuller</author><text>Factor in the lost opportunity cost due to our reputational damage.&lt;p&gt;We lied about WMDs to cajole and entice other countries to join us in invading Iraq.&lt;p&gt;We tortured prisoners.&lt;p&gt;We killed reporters (accidentally) and lied about it (intentionally).&lt;p&gt;We drone-killed a minor US citizen in a foreign country without a trial.&lt;p&gt;I watched 9&amp;#x2F;11 happen with my own eyes and it was incalculably tragic but we&amp;#x27;ve done some very shitty things in return.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>paxys</author><text>This stuff isn&amp;#x27;t even ancient history. During the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 the military blew up a random vehicle from a drone in the middle of Kabul, killing 10 civilians (including 7 children), and then immediately branded them terrorists.</text></comment>
<story><title>U.S. federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $8T</title><url>https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AdamJacobMuller</author><text>Factor in the lost opportunity cost due to our reputational damage.&lt;p&gt;We lied about WMDs to cajole and entice other countries to join us in invading Iraq.&lt;p&gt;We tortured prisoners.&lt;p&gt;We killed reporters (accidentally) and lied about it (intentionally).&lt;p&gt;We drone-killed a minor US citizen in a foreign country without a trial.&lt;p&gt;I watched 9&amp;#x2F;11 happen with my own eyes and it was incalculably tragic but we&amp;#x27;ve done some very shitty things in return.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sschueller</author><text>Guantanamo Bay prison is still holding detainies indefinitely and Julian Assange is still facing a lifetime in prison for exposing war crimes.</text></comment>