The GAO released a report on the dollars we (we being Americans) have spent from on the Global War on Terrorism.  The GAO reports that from 2001-2007 Congress provided the Department of Defense with $542.9 billion for its GWOT efforts.  And it’s not like the spending is slowing down.  Take a look at the graph to the left (click on it to enlarge) from the report and you can see that the pattern definitely trends up and if DOD gets what they want for 2008 it will continue to climb.  They’ve asked for $189.3 billion in 2008 after getting $161.8 billion in 2007, or an increase of roughly 17%.

What’s interesting to me is that the growth in spending is due to Operation Iraqi Freedom, which I tend to think of as "Bubba’s Folly".  I think most American’s equate the GWOT with the War in Iraq, but the reality is that Operation Iraqi Freedom is but one of three large operations in the GWOT.  The chart to the left shows a comparison of spending in all three operations and you can clearly see that the Iraq operations are responsible for the vast majority of the spending.  From the report:

DOD’s reported obligations through fiscal year 2007 include about $378.1 billion for operations in and around Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and about $86.2 billion for operations in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines, and elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. It also includes about $27.9 billion for operations in defense of the homeland as part of Operation Noble Eagle.

Reported obligations associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom continue to be far higher than those for other GWOT operations in fiscal year 2007. As figure 2 shows, from fiscal years 2003 through 2007, DOD’s reported obligations for Operation Iraqi Freedom consistently increased each fiscal year. In contrast, DOD’s reported obligations for Operation Noble Eagle have consistently decreased since fiscal year 2003, while those for Operation Enduring Freedom have remained within a range of $10.3 billion to $20.1 billion each fiscal year.

The GAO also takes the DOD to task for crappy accounting practices and writes that they aren’t sure how reliable DOD’s reporting is as a result.  In other words the GAO can say for sure how much money Congress gave to the GWOT effort, but they aren’t confident in DOD’s reporting on how the money’s been spent. 

Who’s surprised?

Hat tip to Lex for pointing to the report.