Brigadier General Steve Anderson, who served as chief logistician to General
David Petraeus in Iraq,
said that the American department of defence (DOD) was shockingly
inefficient in its energy use.
"In essence what we're doing is we're air conditioning the desert over
there in Afghanistan,
Iraq and other places," Brig. Gen. Anderson said.
Taking into account raw fuel, transport and security, "DOD will spend
about $20 billion annually to air-condition tents and temporary structures,"
he told National Public Radio.
Brig. Gen. Anderson explained that the fuel used to power air conditioners in
remote bases in Afghanistan is shipped into Pakistan, before being
transported by land for more than two weeks.
It must cross 800 miles of roads, many little more than "improved goat
trails", and areas where insurgents will use roadside bombs to target
troops serving the US war effort.
About 1,000 US troops have been killed during fuel convoys, said Brig. Gen.
Anderson, emphasising that the American military's energy inefficiency was
not just a matter of public money being wasted.
Still, the comments are likely to raise fresh concerns about the amount of
money being spent on ongoing wars as the federal government reaches its
legal debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion (f8.9 trillion).
The US has spent about $1.2 trillion (f750 billion) on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, according to official government figures, though the true cost
is likely to be much greater.
As Barack Obama announced last week that 33,000 US troops would leave
Afghanistan by the end of next summer, opponents pointed out that the war
was still costing $10 billion (f6 billion) a month.
Despite being wound down, the Iraq war is also set to cost US taxpayers $51
billion (f32 billion) in 2011, while upwards of $1 billion (f620 million)
has been spent by the US on the intervention in Libya. Brig. Gen. Anderson
claims billions of dollars could be saved if the US military used simple
energy-efficient techniques, such as spraying tents with common insulation
foam used in domestic roofs.
He said that when he retired in November, he briefed senior Army officials on
his thoughts.
"Everybody nods their heads and says it's a good thing to do," he
said. "But I think there's a lack of commitment to this because they
think they're going to be tying operational commanders' hands".
A spokesman for the DOD did not return a request for comment.
