Iraq, Afghan Wars Price Tag Jumps To $195B
CBS/AP) Spending to cover the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan next year will total nearly $200 billion, according to a budget request the White House will take to Congress next week, making 2008 the most expensive year of those conflicts to date.
The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which cited unnamed Pentagon officials.
The Bush administration has earlier this year said it would need $147.5 billion for fiscal 2008, but the estimates have been raised by another $47 billion. This request is in addition to the Pentagon’s nearly half-trillion annual budget, which omits war spending but covers routine costs, including training, payrolls and weapons procurement.
To blame: the massive troop buildup and production of new equipment, including mine-resistant trucks.
The $195 billion price tag would mark an increase of about 12 percent from $173 billion in Fiscal 2007.
Winslow Wheeler, a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information and a former Republican congressional budget aide, told the Los Angeles Times that the Iraq war (including associated costs such as embassy expenses in Baghdad and CIA operations) and currently costs taxpayers $12 billion a month, and the costs will rise, even as incremental drawdowns in troop levels take place over the coming year.
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