Impact of War in Iraq, Essay Example

When attempting to discuss the costs of the War in Iraq on the American family, it is easy to first consider the growing economic and financial costs.  For instance, based upon the information on CostOfWar.com, the War in Iraq has cost each taxpayer in the United States roughly $5,158 which also means that it has cost each family around $6,345 so far.  These costs continue to increase the longer the United States is at war in Iraq, but these are simply the financial costs of the war.  These are not necessarily all of the costs as the War in Iraq has many effects on the American family outside of finances.

For instance, the war has also led to deaths of soldiers who have left behind their families to fight for this country.  Single-parent families are now a regular occurrence and they are a true reality for any family where one parent goes off to fight in the war.  Another key issue relating to single-parent families is that oftentimes parents will remarry another spouse.  These issues can often cause damage upon the children’s abilities to concentrate in school and maintain discipline in the real world.  Often as a way to lash out and cope with their anger, children will get in trouble in school or with the law because they feel it is unfair that their parent is no longer alive or that their mother or father is replacing their lost parent with a new one.  These are all realistic costs of the War in Iraq that are seldom taken into consideration for the common American household.

Finally, another additional cost of the War in Iraq are the psychological effects that soldiers bring home as extra baggage after spending time at war in Iraq.  The family may be kept together for the time being, but the soldier returns home and is not the same person.  He or she may become violent in the home or rely on drugs and alcohol as ways to cope with the images they have seen and the actions they were ordered to perform. These effects can cause familial abuse and even criminal actions within the common American household, both of which are detrimental to our society and to the families of the soldiers.  In these circumstances, the family members, friends and the soldiers themselves are all the victims of the War in Iraq and these are costs that cannot continue to be endured by this country.