Rendering death and destruction visible: Counting the costs of war

This paper examines what costs are included and which are excluded from a war budget and why it is in the best interests of the U.S. political elite to under-cost warfare. It provides a social accounting for war that goes beyond the economic by documenting the human and social consequences of conflict. In so doing, it demonstrates the potential of social reporting for emancipation. If the U.S. government was required to disclose the social and human costs of a war, the horror would be revealed, making it difficult to rationalize violence as a means to an end.