US WAR AGAINST ISIL COULD COST UP TP $22 BILLION PER YEAR: REPORT

US war against ISIL could cost up to $22 billion per year: Report

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle flies over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria.

Mon Sep 29, 2014 4:54PM GMT

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The US war against the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria may cost up to $22 billion per year, according a report released Monday by a Washington-based think tank.

If airstrikes against ISIL continue at the current level and 2,000 ground combat troops are deployed to Iraq, military operations could cost between $200 and $320 million per month, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) estimated.

If the US air campaign intensifies and 5,000 troops are put on the ground, the operation will cost between $350 million and $570 million per month for US taxpayers, the CSBA said.

However, the think tank estimated that if airstrikes are expanded substantially and 25,000 US ground troops are deployed, the military campaign may cost between $1.1 and $1.8 billion per month.

“On an annualized basis, the lower-intensity air operations could cost $2.4 to $3.8 billion per year, the higher-intensity air operations could cost $4.2 to $6.8 billion per year, and deployment of a larger ground contingent could drive annual costs as high as $13 to $22 billion,” CSBA predicted.

The US military has already spent between $780 million and $930 million in its campaign against the terrorist group so far, the think tank said.

The US and several of its allies began striking ISIL targets in Syria on September 23. American warplanes have already conducted hundreds of strikes against ISIL in Iraq since mid-August.

US President Barack Obama has ruled out American boots on the ground in a combat role, a promise many experts say might soon be broken.

Top military officials have said an air campaign alone would not be sufficient to achieve the announced goal of defeating ISIL, and that the US might ultimately be forced to send ground troops to combat.

According to a new survey, the majority of active-duty troops in the US military are opposed to sending ground soldiers to Iraq to battle ISIL, and believe the US war in Iraq was not successful.

AHT/HRJ