$5.8 Billion a Month

The Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, according to the military's top generals. Link

So that's $193,000,000 a day there abouts.

Iraq is estimated to hold 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. Link

At $40 a barrel this would be $4.6 Trillion.

If my math is right (probably isn't) this war could go on for 66 years before we tapped out the profit from all that Texas Tea.

[edit on 11-20-2004 by ShadowHasNoSource]

You would, of course, have to prove that we're tapping the revenues from Iraq's so-far meager oil output, or that oil revenues are even going towards funding the war...

By the way, where do you get the 66 year figure from? We were only in Vietnam for what, 15? Do you think Iraq is worse than Vietnam?

We aren't tapping the revenues from Iraq's oil output because pipelines and stations are being blown up. No, this is more debt for the american people.

The 66 year figure is $5.8 Billion divided into $4.6 Trillion.

So if we're not making any money off the oil because the security situation is bad and the pipelines are being blown up, and we're supposedly only there until we secure the country, we're really just going around in circles here, aren't we?

I mean, we can't steal the oil until the country's secure, but if the country's secure we'll have to leave. That's some predicament we find ourselves in, isn't it?

Originally posted by Ibn Iblis
So if we're not making any money off the oil because the security situation is bad and the pipelines are being blown up, and we're supposedly only there until we secure the country, we're really just going around in circles here, aren't we?

I mean, we can't steal the oil until the country's secure, but if the country's secure we'll have to leave. That's some predicament we find ourselves in, isn't it?

Yes it is. How are we going to pay for this "security"? It's been almost 20 months already. Oh yea, raise the debt ceiling.

The ouput of oil would need to be 3,860,000 barrels of oil per day at $50 per barrel to break even. But you need to remember that it isn't the American people that were ever going to make any money on the Iraqi oil. The american people are just supplying the capital so that someone else makes a profit.

Very simple, we don't need to be geniuses to find out how we are paying for the war in Iraq, our tax payer money is financing the war plus the money that now the congress is giving to the administration money that we don't have.

The "insurgents" know how to hurt US and is doing a good job, as longer as the oil pipes in Iraq are blown up US and his oil base companies are losing money.

The Oil is not financing Iraq at all we are.

The administration is praying (Occurs) that the elections will bring enough stability in Iraq to privatize the oil and start pumping at capacity, so US can take a brake on the cost of keeping Iraq.

Now the way things are in Iraq right now I think the Insurgents know very well what is going on and they are going to fight to the end for the taking over their resources by private companies.

Can you blame Iraqis for not wanting to give up their resources? After all that is all they have, and plenty of sand.

Originally posted by Ibn Iblis


I mean, we can't steal the oil until the country's secure, but if the country's secure we'll have to leave. That's some predicament we find ourselves in, isn't it?

America will have to mantain some presence in Iraq for quite some time. #

I think that is the neo con plan for the middle east in general. it's the focus point of the US's interests. And as energy becomes the main issue of the world, the worlds eyes will also turn to this area.

The Government Leemings will foot the bill, (the taxpayers)
just as in every other major gevernment expenditure.

Originally posted by earthtone
America will have to mantain some presence in Iraq for quite some time. #

I agree with you, we mess it up we have are stuck with it, perhaps by them US will have control of their resources to pay for our presence in that country if we are not bankrupt by then

Originally posted by earthtone
America will have to mantain some presence in Iraq for quite some time. #

I think that is the neo con plan for the middle east in general. it's the focus point of the US's interests. And as energy becomes the main issue of the world, the worlds eyes will also turn to this area.

- Didn't I read there are currently around 20 huge permanent US military bases under construction in Iraq?

(As the situation in Saudi Arabia becomes untennable - infidel forces still in the Muslim's most Holy territory - no doubt the Iraqi 'civil authorities' will 'invite' the US military to stay and so the, much enhanced, presence in the region will be maintained?)

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey

- Didn't I read there are currently around 20 huge permanent US military bases under construction in Iraq?

There you go, and the mission is successful, regardless of the situation in Iraq: America now has a permenant presence in that area. you to look at things in a long term perspective with this one. 5.8 billion? These people don't care how much it costs.

Sminkey, yes I believe that the US will enlarge it's presence as much as possible. We will just have to see how the elections turn out. Will the people have their choice?

For those who know about these things i have always had a few questions about this topic.

Who owned the companies that were responsible for oil production in Iraq before the invasion? If it was state owned are they going to put back into the control of a company which the public would own shares of? Will Iraq have the money to keep oil production running or will foriegn bussiness step in because Iraq (or whoever owned them) hasn't got the funds to run them after the destruction to the countries infestructure. I have always wondered about these things and how the people in charge plan to deal with them or are dealing with them, so any info would be great.

One basic thing about Iraq is it's strategic location in the middle east. Iran should be a little worried since the U.S. has forces on it's left and right (Afghanistan and Iraq). But yea, ultimately us lemmings are flipping the bill. Not only are we paying for the war we are fighting it as well. How did we end up with such a great deal?

Currently, to put it in perspective, each American is paying $0.77 a day for this war.

In an already nearly deceased economy running on worthless fiat currency, the issue of money is superfluous. It can be made up on the spot digitally with a few zeroes and ones on a computer. What matters is the physical resource of oil itself. Yes we are there for the physical oil and the issue of money does not matter. The only way to sustain the United States at this point is to just run up the tab, forget about the consequences of it, and just try to obtain as much oil as possible until it has completely run out. Our entire way of life from food transport to commuting to jobs requires oil. The dollars and cents of the economy really are meaningless constructs that can be made as we go along. Oil cannot be created in such liberal fashion.

Frith, you hit the nail on the head. We are talking about a way of life. I remember Bush saying he was going to protect the American way of life. At the time I thought that was kind of an odd saying but it makes sense to me now. I read the book called The End Of Oil and it goes into details about alternative energy sources and most of them are more expensive and less reliable than what we are using today; oil and coal. Our economy runs on cheap energy, when energy goes up our economy goes down. I believe that out of the last 7 recessions all of them were started by a spike in energy prices.

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.with all the talk about bias on atsnn, thought it was good to bring this one back into the light. Worth remembering and thinking about.


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