Linda Bilmes, an expert on economic questions in relation to the Iraq War presented a paper at the Allied Social Sciences Association meeting in Chicago. The paper estimated the long-term costs of healthcare for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars to be $350 billion dollars over their lifetimes. Even more depending on how long the war lasts. This is because the ratio of injury to death is higher than previous wars. She estimates 16:1 vs 2.8:1 in Vietnam and 1.6:1 in WWII.
The Pentagon is pissed over Bilmes estimate of 50,500 injured soldiers. They claim it is half that. Unfortunately for the Pentagon, bilmes got her data from the Department of Veteran Affairs who get their data from the Pentagon. It seems the Pentagon doesn't want to count soldiers who become sick or have accidents while in the combat zones.
All of this might have gone unnoticed, but Bilmes decided to write an op-ed in the LA Times which brought attention to her presentation.
But the Pentagon is always right. To prove this, they simply changed the numbers on the webpages. That should solve the issue.
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