Iraq Occupation Costs Approach $567 Billion, Congressional Report Says

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July 19 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of the war in Iraq will exceed the half-trillion dollar mark once Congress completes its work on a defense measure for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, the Congressional Research Service said in a report.

The defense budget for fiscal 2008 that's in various stages of congressional deliberation requests $141.7 billion to fight terrorism including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

``If Congress approves these requests, total funding would reach about $567 billion for Iraq, $157 billion for Afghanistan'' with the remainder for enhanced U.S. homeland security, CRS analyst Amy Belasco said in a July 16 report released yesterday.

Spending for the effort against terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is on a course to reach $758 billion after the House and Senate complete work on their respective bills and negotiators agree on a final version later this year, the report said.

The amount of money Congress has approved for Iraq spending increased to $135.2 billion this fiscal year from $53 billion in 2003, when the war began.


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