WAR COSTS UP A THIRD FROM LAST YEAR

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NOAH SHACHTMAN, DANGER ROOM - War costs are up for American operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan - way up, more than a third higher than last
year. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Defense Department's
"average monthly obligations for contracts and pay is running about $12
billion per month, well above the $8.7 billion in FY2006," says a new
report, obtained by Danger Room, from the non-partisan Congressional
Research Service. Additional war costs for the next 10 years could total
about $472 billion if troop levels fall to 30,000 by 2010, or $919
billion if troop levels fall to 70,000 by about 2013. If these
estimates are added to already appropriated amounts, total funding about
$980 billion to $1.4 trillion by 2017.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/07/war-costs-soar-.html

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