COMPARING U.S. WARS COMPARING U.S. WARS Cost of wars, adjusted for inflation: (in billions; FY 2008 dollars) World War II $3,900 Korea $456 Vietnam $518 Persian Gulf War $88 Iraq/Afghanistan $604 Sources: Congressional Budget Office, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, USA TODAY research Digg



del.icio.us



Newsvine



Reddit



Facebook WASHINGTON  The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday. A previous CBO estimate put the wars' costs at more than $1.6 trillion. This one adds $705 billion in interest, taking into account that the conflicts are being funded with borrowed money. The new estimate also includes President Bush's request Monday for another $46 billion in war funding, said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., budget committee chairman, who provided the CBO's new numbers to USA TODAY. Assuming that Iraq accounts for about 80% of that total, the Iraq war would cost $1.9 trillion, including $564 billion in interest, said Thomas Kahn, Spratt's staff director. The committee holds a hearing on war costs this morning. "The number is so big, it boggles the mind," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the White House budget office, said, "Congress should stop playing politics with our troops by trying to artificially inflate war funding levels." He declined to provide a White House estimate. The CBO estimates assume that 75,000 troops will remain in both countries through 2017, including roughly 50,000 in Iraq. That is a "very speculative" projection, though it's not entirely unreasonable, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the non-partisan Lexington Institute. As of Sept. 30, the two wars have cost $604 billion, the CBO says. Adjusted for inflation, that is higher than the costs of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Defense spending during those two wars accounted for a far larger share of the American economy. In the months before the March 2003 Iraq invasion, the Bush administration estimated the Iraq war would cost no more than $50 billion. Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook Enlarge By John Moore, Getty Images Spc. Matthew Salter of Merced, Calif., watches as a supply convoy enters the compound of a joint security station in the Ghazaliyah neighborhood of Baghdad in this Sept. file photo. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.