Cost of Iraq War Far Exceeds Original Estimates

Few Economists Predicted True Cost of Iraq War, by Marilyn Geewax, Cox News Service, Sunday, October 07, 2007

  • “Five years ago this month, a Yale economist said something few in Washington wanted to hear: an Iraq war could cost nearly $1.6 trillion by 2012. William Nordhaus’s work was dismissed by Bush administration supporters, who believed spending would not exceed $60 billion. But so far, Congress already has approved $610 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and last month Defense Secretary Robert Gates said President Bush will request an additional $42.3 billion for this fiscal year. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in recent estimates that total costs could range between $1 trillion and $2 trillion, depending on the length of the U.S. deployment and intensity of the fighting. Such estimates seem to confirm that Nordhaus had it right all along.”
  • Related: As War Dragged On, Coverage Tone Weighed Heavily on Anchors, by Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 8, 2007. This article is adapted from the book “Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War” by Howard Kurtz, Free Press, New York, ©2007.”
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