Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark

[maddezmom]

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: March 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government.

The Costs So Far Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say that $1 trillion to $2 trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the American occupation continues.

Among economists and policymakers, the question of how to tally the cost of the war is a matter of hot dispute. And the costs continue to climb.

Congressional Democrats fiercely criticize the White House over war expenditures. But it is virtually certain that the Democrats will provide tens of billions more in a military spending bill next month. Some Democrats are even arguing against attaching strings, like a deadline for withdrawal, saying the tactic will fail as it has in the past.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/washington/19cost.html?ref=middleeast

[Doctor_J]

1. In other words, they lied about that too

what a surprise :eyes:

[maddezmom]

2. yup

The real question I'd like to know is what have they told the truth about?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. The (mis-)administration's claims about the whole Iraq endeavor were "wildly off the mark"

Regrettably, they simply wouldn't (or couldn't) bother to listen to anybody else who said otherwise.

[foxer]

4. 4 trillion = 44,000 tons of $100 bills