Iraq war cost estimated at billions per month

Congress Daily
October 1, 2002
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The Congressional Budget Office Monday released its estimates for a possible war in Iraq, saying that according to its assumptions, the incremental costs of deploying a force to the Persian Gulf would be between $9 billion and $13 billion.

Prosecuting a war then would run between $6 billion and $9 billion a month, although CBO could not estimate how long a war might last.

At the end of the war, CBO said it would cost between $5 billion and $7 billion to return troops to the United States, and the costs of a peacetime occupation could range from $1 billion to $4 billion a month.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and House Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., both praised the report, which they had requested.

But the lawmakers also pointed out the report's limitations-such as its inability to calculate humanitarian assistance or reconstruction costs following a destructive war.

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