The Cost of the War

Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark

"At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government.  Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion."  The cost of this war is now estimated around $3.950 trillion higher than what it was originally estimated at.  Is it worth putting this much of our country's money out towards this war? With the original estimated cost of the war, it would most defiantly be worth invading Iraq.  But with the estimates now, which are very capable of increasing, we are just adding another $4 trillion to our national dept.

The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond

Even with the cost of the war being at the $3-$4 trillion estimate its at, Stigiltz and Bilmes still seem to believe that that cost is going to be to low:  "But today, as the United States ends combat in Iraq, it appears that our $3 trillion estimate (which accounted for both government expenses and the wars broader impact on the U.S. economy) was, if anything, too low. For example, the cost of diagnosing, treating and compensating disabled veterans has proved higher than we expected."  With the original estimate of the cost at $50-$60 billion in 2003, then the 2008 estimate of $3-$4 trillion, and then estimated to be even higher in 2010, the cost is only going to get higher the longer the war goes on and the more we do with it.