Next Year’s War Costs Estimated at $170 Billion or More
By DAVID STOUT and THOM SHANKER
Published: February 6, 2008
WA****NGTON — The military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost
$170 billion in the
next fiscal year over and above the $515.4 billion regular Pentagon budget
that President Bush
has proposed, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Wednesday.
Mr. Gates gave that estimate in testimony before the Senate Armed Services
Committee after
cautioning the panel that any estimate would be dicey, given the
unpredictability of war.
“Well, a straight-line projection, Mr. Chairman, of our current
expenditures would probably put
the full-year cost in a strictly arithmetic approach at about $170
billion,” Mr. Gates said in
response to questions from Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who
is the head of the
committee.
more at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/wa****ngton/06cnd-military.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
