War Costs Increasing -- Neocons Noticeably Quiet

Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday that, if reelected, the Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year. Yale University economist William D. Nordhaus estimated that in inflation-adjusted terms, the Vietnam War cost about $500 billion from 1964 to 1972. The cost of the Iraq war could reach nearly half that number by next fall, 2 1/2 years after it began.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 1/19/03: “Well, the Office of Management and Budget, has come up come up with a number that's something under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. burden, and how much would be other countries, is an open question.”

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, before the House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03: “There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, in early 2003: "The one thing that is certain is Iraq is a wealthy nation."