The costs of war

According to a Congressional Research Service report dated March 29, 2011, the sixth continuing resolution for the federal budget for fiscal year 2012 shows approximately $806 billion in Iraq War costs. Keep in mind that this budgeted amount is after the drawdown of U.S. troops and operations. I mention this to give some perspective to future costs as some politicians are encouraging that U.S. forces return to Iraq to fight ISIS.

Keep in mind also that there were no new taxes implemented to pay for the "War on Terror." While we hear politicians discussing reducing the federal deficit that includes the costs of wars that were never funded by new revenue, and I am not aware of any discussion about how to pay for new military operations.

Historically this is not a new issue for the United States. An income tax was implemented during the Civil War to help pay for the Union war effort. Six months after the U.S. declared war on Germany in World War I, the Congress again passed an income tax to pay for the cost of war. During World War II, the United States sold $186 billion in bonds to help pay for that war in addition to an income Victory Tax which was established. In 1968, a 10 percent income tax surcharge was passed to help with costs of the Vietnam War.

The War on Terror has not resulted in war taxes. The creation of an all-volunteer military and the lack of a war tax has been a political move so the vast majority of the American public has felt no cost of the current wars. Added to this was the policy of not allowing photos to be taken of returning caskets of deceased troops. If we can shield the public from the realities and costs of war, they will be less apt to object to prosecuting those wars.

Now we have members of Congress saber rattling with no discussion of shared sacrifice to pay for more combat. When wars must be fought, it is wrong to pretend there are no financial or human costs. I urge a constitutional amendment to require a financial plan to pay for military actions as well as "to care for him who has borne the battle, his widow, and his orphan," rather than pretending those costs do not exist.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He resides in Chaffee, Missouri.