Bill for US occupation of Iraq keeps on climbing

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14250040p-15066876c.html

WASHINGTON - When Lawrence Lindsey, then President Bush's top economic adviser, said in September 2002 that war in Iraq might cost the United States as much as $200 billion, other top aides rebuked him and Bush fired him three months later.

Turns out, Lindsey's projection was indeed way off the mark - way low off the mark.

The Senate is expected to pass an emergency spending bill this week to provide $71 billion for military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the bulk of it going to Iraq. The new money would bring to at least $320 billion the total cost of a war that senior Bush aides once promised would be financed largely by Iraqi oil revenues.

Soaring costs driven by the harsh Iraqi climate's wear-and-tear on tanks, trucks and helicopters have more than tripled U.S. spending on equipment - from $7.2 billion in 2003 to $24.4 billion this year - according to a new report by the bipartisan Congressional Research Service.

The Iraq campaign's total cost is still well behind the $549 billion price tag for the country's decade-long debacle in Vietnam, after adjusting for inflation. But the government's rate of spending on Iraq has outpaced the average spending rate in Vietnam - passing $8 billion a month.

[Botany]

1. good thing they are not wasting the $ money on ...

education
finding bin Laden
the environment
renewable clean energy
health care


BTW Red China is funding our war. I wonder how the conservatives feel about that.