The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion.
That's more than NASA's budget. It's more than BP has paid so far for damage during the Gulf oil spill. It's what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.
"When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we're talking over $20 billion," Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus' chief logistician in Iraq.
Why does it cost so much?
To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in land-locked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than "improved goat trails," Anderson says. "And you've got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way."
Anderson calculates more than 1,000 troops have died in fuel convoys, which remain prime targets for attack. Free-standing tents equipped with air conditioners in 125 degree heat require a lot of fuel. Anderson says by making those structures more efficient, the military could save lives and dollars.
Still, his $20.2 billion figure raises stark questions about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. In the wake of President Obama's announcement this week that about 30,000 American troops will soon return home, how much money does the U.S. stand to save?
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
What a shame, and let the nation suffer at home!
No surprise here, considering the rampant corruption among the right-wing thugs in Washington who work for the MIC(military-industrial-complex).
Yep, Democrats are as pure as the driven snow.
It wasnt just republicans who got us here. There werent enough people who actually questioned why we were going into iraq in the first place. Afghanistan was logical (somewhat) iraq was not.
Air conditioned soldiers are "good" soldiers. When I'm elected president, I'm going to take away the air conditioners of the Old, Sick, and Poor people and give them to the soldiers. Then the Old, Sick, and Poor can just make their own gravy from their sweat.
Air-conditioning? That's something that the Taliban definitely don't have.
I wonder if the Spanish, Italian anf French troops etc. have the same luxury as their American peers! I'm sure the Germans don't complain much, but there are only 4.000 of them.. No wonder the war in Afghanistan is so expensive!
It is time to defend and save our economy first in this competitive world. First step required is to cut all unnecessary expenses in defending other countries. Economic strong USA is more important than the strong USA militarily.
OPS rAj they are talking not about you pindia..... or you forgot what you are!!!
Of course, one way for the US to save more money is to handout more H1B visas to Indians. Ask Fareed Zakaria. He will surely agree.
yeah true $20B for airconditioning/fuel/supplies/medevac etc... its time to end this crazy unending war. BO should bring all the troops home, not just the teeny fraction of 10K troops. That's peanuts!
that's so disgusting it makes my head spin. we're insane.
So now we learn that the Dept of Defense is spending $20 billion air conditioning tents “in a hot sandy place,” as Amory Lovins says in our new documentary, Carbon Nation (@co2nation, http://www.carbonnationmovie.com). And our soldiers are dying delivering all that fuel that’s being wasted in the diesel generators at our forward operating bases (FOB), because fuel convoys at prime targets. This is waste upon waste: as Dan Nolan adds, our soldiers are dying while “we are basically air conditioning the desert.” Carbon Nation is about solutions. And the FOB solution is to insulate the tents with foam, reducing the fuel load to less than a fifth of what was needed before. That’s one fuel convoy for every five previously. But these solutions keep on coming. Watching Navy Sec. Ray Mabus speak last month, I was blown away by his new goal: to have his Navy (which includes the Marines) to have all of its fuel, all of it, to be U.S-made biofuel by 2020. Biofuel that uses no food sources or arable land. Biofuel 2.0.
It is truly a good thing that they spend that much money.. for sure all that money they spend in their own country....to build export install that much air conditioner.. that helped americans to create jobs... why americans all time cry?? i dont know.. and yes oil is free...
Dont tell me all those air conditioners were imported from china.... it will make me to laugh more....
Funny to see the question of the military cost in Afghanistan being asked now....after over ten years of war and thousands of lives. I really wonder where our brains are as a society for not questioning the cost of these brutally expensive high tech wars. It seems that the military always gets cart blanche if it can be proven that their machine kills people more effectively. No matter the cost. But education, infrastructure, health care etc etc ...all have to stand in line cap in hand. Is this our priorities in life? Is this the world we want to hand to our children? What does it take to change?
One way of wiining wr could be providing Taliban with these airconditoined tant so they will stay stay inside and donot fight.
We absolutely love your blog and find the majority of your post's to be exactly I'm looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content in your case? I wouldn't mind producing a post or elaborating on most of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome web log!
This is really fascinating, You are an excessively professional blogger. I have joined your feed and stay up for searching for extra of your wonderful post. Additionally, I have shared your website in my social networks