Postwar Iraq Likely to Cost More Than War ($600 Billion?)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq-costs,1,4838499.story?coll=chi-news-hed

The U.S. bill for rebuilding Iraq and maintaining security there is widely expected to exceed the war's price tag, but the Bush administration is offering only hazy details about the multibillion-dollar totals.

Private analysts have estimated that the cost of U.S. military and nation-building operations in Iraq could reach $600 billion.

But the closest the administration has come to estimating America's postwar burden was when L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of occupied Iraq, said last month that "getting the country up and running again" could cost $100 billion and take three years.

He estimated that repairing Iraq's electrical grid alone will cost $13 billion and getting the water system in shape will require an additional $16 billion.

In a recent interview on CNBC's "Capital Report," Bremer said of rebuilding costs: "It's probably well above $50 billion, $60 billion, maybe $100 billion. It's a lot of money."

--snip--

"I think they're fearful of having Congress say, 'Oh, my God, this thing is going to be very costly,'" said Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls foreign aid.

[Julien Sorel]

1. If you take into account ancillary things,

like the increased fuel prices associated with the disruption in oil flow from Iraq, and the lost productivity of reserve people who were called to service, I bet it costs a trillion dollars. This should be an in-your-face campaign issue for the Dems, which is why some of the anti-war candidates have a potential to run a strong campaign. Hundreds of millions of dollars, for what? WMD? None there. To free Iraq? Are we going to spend that kind of money to'free' other countries? All this while the deficit is spiraling and the economy is sputtering.

[soothsayer]

2. not hundreds of millions, hundreds of BILLIONS

Going to the BFEE

Ain't it good to be king?

[moondust]

3. Imagine

investing that kind of money in the development of new energy technologies rather than burning it up in a vain attempt to preserve old technologies that make a few cronies rich. Whew!