Taking Iraq to account

Inadequate preparation

Nevertheless, the really big numbers of the war in Iraq are the military expenditures. To date, American armed forces have spent about $143 billion (the initial forecasts ranged between $150 and $200 billion). The direct monthly expense of U.S. military activities in Iraq is $4 billion-$6 billion, which translates into an annual $48 billion-$72 billion. The deteriorating security situation and recent terrorist attacks in Iraq have modified the administration's previous working assumptions. It is now projected that once rule is transferred to an Iraqi government, the U.S. will still have to maintain a significant troop deployment there for three to five years. The expense could exceed $250 billion - even according to conservative and cautious estimates. It should be borne in mind that overall U.S. budget deficit is already about $500 billion.

The civilian reconstruction effort is also costing billions of dollars. Just one year ago, Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID, the administration's foreign aid agency, declared, "The American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this," he said. The aid agency determined that Iraq could even pay for its own rebuilding. Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, derisively dismissed the financial projections voiced at the start of the war, according to which the cost of civil rebuilding would be between $60 billion and $150 billion.

The position expressed by Wolfowitz and other senior administration officials is yet more proof of the administration's inadequate preparation for the war, and its failure to fathom what awaited it in Iraq. In a matter of weeks, the correct facts and figures became evident. The administration has already spent over $35 billion on infrastructure and civilian expenses in Iraq, and expects to add another $70 billion or so in the coming year. But that is not the final bill - these forecasts do not take into account the costs of security and insurance, nor do they take into account "special clauses": fraud, bribery, theft and waste.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/415039.html

sometime this summer and will need to ask congress for a few billion more. I wonder how that will affect the election?