Iraq War could exceed 1 Trillion

One thing is certain about the Iraq war, it has cost a lot more than advertised. The costs grow by at least $200 million each and every day. In the months leading up to the launch of the war three years ago, few administration officials were willing to comment publicly on the potential costs to the United States. In fact, the economic costs are rarely included in the debate over whether to go to war, but some economists argue it is quite possible and useful to think about potential costs and benefits.
Most estimates put forward by White House officials in 2002 and 2003 were lower than the cost of past wars. White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey estimated $100 billion to $200 billion for the cost of the war in a September 2002 interview with The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. direct spending on the war in Iraq has surpassed Lindsey's estimate and most economists attribute billions more in indirect costs to the war effort. The most current estimates of the war's cost generally start with figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which as of January 2006 counted $323 billion in expenditures for the war on terrorism, including military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House approved another $69 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which would bring the total to about $400 billion. The Pentagon is spending about $6 billion a month on the war in Iraq, or about $200 million a day. That is about the same as the gross domestic product of Nigeria. With costs growing day to day with the war in Iraq is it really worth the money that is being spent?