Via <a href=”http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1057562288802″>NYT</a> Rumsfeld reports that the costs for the Iraq campain is now $3.9 billion per month, about $2 billion more per month than their April estimate of $2 billion per month. He added that the cost of operations in Afghanistan are about $1 billion per month.
“During a grueling four-hour hearing, committee members alternately complimented the military’s war plan but criticized the Pentagon’s planning for the postwar stabilization of the nation.” Duh.
We still have 145,000 troops in Iraq, according to General Franks, who stepped down this week from the top job at Central Command. “[Franks found that] the size and structure of those forces were appropriate for the current situation.”
So $60 billion a year between Iraq and Afghanistan and 140,000 troops in jeopardy. And for how long? “When pressed to predict how long a force comparable to the current one would be needed, [Franks] said, ‘It is for the foreseeable future.'”
Great article about Bu$h pooping money for iraqis and leaving everyone else high and dry: http://constitutionalmatters.com/thevoice/oped/315-billion-and-counting