Pentagon puts price tag on war

The Pentagon has spent more than $20 billion so far in the war against Iraq and expects to spend at least $10 billion more by the end of September, a senior official said Wednesday.

That does not include several billion dollars it will cost to bring combat troops back home, the Associated Press reported.

The official offered no estimate of the costs of stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq and said military operations in Iraq to date have cost between $10 billion to $12 billion. Personnel costs have been about $6 billion and the cost of munitions has been more than $3 billion.

The official explained how the Pentagon will use the $62.6 billion Congress has approved in the fiscal 2003 supplemental spending over the Pentagon's $364 billion.

The war in Iraq will cost an estimated $2 billion a month through the end of the fiscal year, he said.