Actual US expenses on Iraqi war amount to $3 trillion

THE costs of the US' war and five-year occupation of Iraq has reached a staggering $3 trillion, or ten times more than what is stated in official reports, according to a study conducted by Joseph Stiglitz, former World Bank chief economist.

Stiglitz said the inflated expenses are due to huge contracts worth $193 million bagged by Halliburton, a close ally of Vice President Dick Cheney; high salaries of contracted private security forces ($400,000/year) compared to the relatively low salaries of soldiers ($40,000/year); and overpriced contracts for items such as painting that could have been awarded to the Iraqis at $5 million but were instead contracted out to an American company at $25 million. A huge part of the expenses also went to hospitalization, caring for the sick and funerals for war casualties that were not reflected in the military budget but were instead posted in other departments like the Department of Health.

The actual amount is even bigger if soaring prices of oil are to be factored in. Five years after the occupation, the US has not benefited from Iraqi oil. The total costs also exclude expenses incurred for attending to internal and external Iraqi refugees, medical treatment of Iraqi casualties and the long-term rehabilitation of both American and Iraqi bombing casualties.

The US has resorted to foreign borrowing to sustain its terrorist war on the Iraqi people. A substantial part of this loan amounting to $1 trillion came from China.

Meanwhile, according to a study by an economist of the UK Defence Department, the UK has already incurred war expenses amounting to 5 billion euro ($7.5 billion) as of 2006. An estimated $1 billion was also spent last year.