To the editor:
U.S. Treasury statements for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1991, report receipts from U.S. allies of $43.6 billion out of the $55 billion pledged for the Persian Gulf war.How much did the war actually cost America? There is no agreement among the various estimates.
A comparison of Department of Defense military expenditures for the year of the war with the prior fiscal year shows only a $15.7 billion increase. Expenditures for 1990 were $289.8 billion and expenditures for 1991 were $305.5 billion.
How much would have been spent without the war? Budget estimates for the 1991 fiscal year were $295.7 billion, suggesting that the $305.5 billion actually expended in the year of the war was only $9.8 billion more than would otherwise have been spent.
It looks as if the war cost only another $10 billion or $15 billion more than would otherwise have been spent. Presumably, most of the bills for the war have been paid except for some military stockpile that may or may not be replaced.
If we receive the full $55 billion from allies and we only spent another $15 billion or so, we have profited about $40 billion. In this same fiscal year, we received $12.5 billion from our foreign military sales program - profiting another $1 billion.
Mercenaries? Don't even mention the word.
Conrad Maxfield
Salt Lake City