The cost of war is usually just measured in dollars. I think the $1.7 trillion is about 10% of the current national debit.

Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan Coyer, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in this March 11, 2013, file photo. Coyer died of complications from an injury sustained in Afghanistan.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files UNREST OBITUARY)

But the losses from wars like Iraq and Vietnam run much deeper into the soul of the country. Broken lives, shattered dreams, widows with fatherless children and indebtedness no war monger cares to count.

It is estimated the cost of the Iraq war alone will result in veteran benefits in excess of $6 trillion over the next four decades. We have enough of the USA Congress volunteering our military for duty in places that don't even raise a finger to end any tensions or conflict. 

The problems in Syria are contained and at the height of unrest and IS/IS/L fears the borders of allies were secure and undisturbed. The Republican right wing can take their mercenary habits elsewhere.

(Reuters) - The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion (click here) with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.

The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war's death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said.

The report, the work of about 30 academics and experts, was published in advance of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.