US has no idea of 'war on terror' cost: watchdog

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usattacksfinance;_ylt=AsIkTFrYtyr9B8IwK5fNA.Ks0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

US has no idea of 'war on terror' cost: watchdog

Tue Jul 18, 4:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government has lost track of the cost of the "war on terror" unleashed after the September 11 attacks and which is now taking up tens of billions of dollars a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Congress watchdog warned.


The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that neither the Defence Department nor Congress had any accurate idea how much the war has cost since the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

It said Congress has appropriated about 430 billion dollars for "war on terror" spending, which includes military operations and reconstruction costs in Iraq, but raised concerns about the way the money was being accounted for.

The GAO said it had already found "numerous problems" with Defence Department "processes for recording Global War on Terror (GWOT) costs". It said that the Pentagon had not done enough since the previous criticism in September to overcome the problems.
.........

[rodeodance]

1. Rummy has a plastic charge card for the war.

[54anickel]

2. Could have just stopped after idea. "US has no idea". n/t

[Stargazer99]

3. It is time to make the rich and the well-heeled

share in the cost of this war, monetarily and with their sons and daughters put in front lines.

[Gman]

4. "tens of billions"??

try hundreds of billions.

Actually, they measure the cost in increments of increases in shareholder wealth in Halliburton.

[dailykoff]

5. But I'll bet they've got the profits figured to the penny.

Costs are for some future Dem administration to worry about, that is if elections aren't suspended for national security reasons.

[bvar22]

6. AND....

The Republicans are sending the bill TO YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!

Don't expect the RICH REPUBLICANS to pay for their war!
This one goes on the credit card while the TAX CUTS go to the RICH friends of the Republicans!

[Eugene]

7. Price tag to rebuild Iraq rises by $50b (Boston Globe)

Price tag to rebuild Iraq rises by $50b

Auditor says US to pay most of tab

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 19, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The new Iraqi government will need about $50 billion in additional aid
to rebuild the country's oil facilities and electrical grids to prewar levels, the US
government's top auditor told Congress yesterday. And he warned that the United States
is likely to have to pay the vast majority of it.

The funds would be on top of the roughly $30 billion that the United States has already
committed to rebuild the war-torn country since the March 2003 invasion -- most of which
has been spent. The estimate is also in addition to the steadily rising cost of the
American military deployment in Iraq, which has topped $300 billion, according to the
latest government figures.

The estimate is the first full accounting of Iraqi reconstruction needs by US Comptroller
General David M. Walker , the nation's top fiscal watchdog.

<snip>

Walker, who also runs the Government Accountability Office, said that while military costs
-- currently about $1.5 billion a week -- are rising sharply, the US government is likely
to have to foot almost all of the bill for the Iraqi government's future rebuilding needs
as well.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/19/price_tag_to_rebuild_iraq_rises_by_50b/
(Boston Globe - free registration may be required)

[City Lights]

8. All going according to plan...

...if they kept track, the people might find out, and they can't have that.

[gratuitous]

9. There is great chaos under heaven, and the situation is excellent

Who knew today's GOP were Maoists? But chaos provides good cover for out and out theft.

[Ilsa]

10. We'll just people sign IOUs when it affects them directly, like

we're doing to rescue US citizens in Lebanon.