Cost of war: $12 billion dollars a month (nearly $3 billion per week)

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Billions spent on US wars

28 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has shelled out well over half a trillion dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and running costs have hit 12 billion dollars a month, according to an independent report.

New figures by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) emerged as debate hit a critical point in Washington over the huge human and financial costs of the four-year conflict in Iraq.

The report also provided a glimpse into the astronomical costs of US military operations in years to come -- saying the global war on terror could have churned through a stunning 1.4 trillion dollars by 2017.

Since the strike on Afghanistan launched after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States has spent 610 billion dollars on the two wars, and on protecting US bases worldwide, said the report, updated late last month.

Iraq has accounted so far for 450 billion dollars, the report said. In fiscal year 2007 alone, the Iraq operation sucked up 165.8 dollars, an increase of 40 percent year-on-year.

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If 2008 funding requests are granted in full, the report said, war spending will rise to 758 billion dollars, with 567 billion dollars spent on Iraq.

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