WASHINGTON - At the outset of the Iraq war, the White House predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein.
Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion.
The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say $1 trillion to $2 trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the occupation continues.
Congressional Democrats fiercely criticize the war expenditures, but it is virtually certain they will provide tens of billions more in a military spending bill next month.
All of the price tallies include operations in the war zone, supporting troops, repairing or replacing equipment, reservists' salaries, special combat pay for regular forces and some care for injured veterans -- expenses that typically fall outside the defense or VA budgets.
The debate rages on over such esoteric factors as the right inflation index for veterans' health-care costs and the monetary value of nearly 4,000 soldiers killed. Debate aside, Congress is likely to have allocated slightly more than $600 billion for Iraq operations through the 2008 fiscal year.
Some analysts say that may be only half the final price.
NEW YORK TIMES
