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Iraq's Toll Spirals Into Trillions
Iraq may cost up to $12.5B each month
By Caroline Zimmerman
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Posted Mar 10, 08 9:44 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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In 2002 Donald Rumsfeld envisioned an Iraq war price tag of "something under $50 billion," but a Harvard professor and a Nobel-prize winning economist now pin the total cost at $3 trillion, with a "running cost" of $12.5 billion a month. As the Iraq war enters its sixth year next week, the Christian Science Monitor takes a look at the varying estimates.
Other experts say the $3 trillion figure is grossly inflated. But, even without factoring in "macro" costs like the rising price of oil and a high medical inflation rate for veteran care, conservative estimates figure Iraq will cost at least $1 trillion. However, concedes the Monitor, all projections are still just that.