Meanwhile, at military bases around the country they've been dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic wastes, including chemical warfare agents, napalm, explosives, PCB's, and heavy metals, creating malignant lagoons and contaminating the groundwater of surrounding communities.
There are 11,000 military dump sites that need to be cleaned up. The estimated cost -- $100 to $200 billion. [133]
I say, let's fence 'em all off and call them national security sacrifice zones.
DANGER. KEEP OUT. TOXIC WASTE.
He's serious -- that's what some people are proposing.
Another cost of foreign wars is the retaliation they bring.
If we weren't always bombing other people, we wouldn't have to worry so much about people bombing us!
On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge admitted that the war would spur more terrorist attacks against the U.S. [134]
"I think we can anticipate ... more threats because of a potential invasion. I mean it's fairly predictable." -- Rom Ridge, March 2003.
In other words, the Bush Administration knew that invading Iraq would bring retaliation, but it decided to go ahead and place us in greater danger anyway!
The "War on Terrorism" opened a new chapter in U.S. foreign wars, a chapter that may be marked by an endless cycle of violence. Some in Washington seem to relish the prospect. Emerging from his secret bunker several weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dick Cheney predicted that the "War on Terrorism" would go on for a long time. [135]
"It may never end. At least not in our lifetime." -- Cheney, Oct. 2001.