[A-List] Stiglitz: Iraq war could ultimately cost the US some $2 trillion...

[Jurriaan Bendien]

Iraq war could cost US over $2 trillion, says Nobel prize-winning economist

Jamie Wilson in Washington
Saturday January 7, 2006
The Guardian

The real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion 
and $2 trillion (£1.1 trillion), up to 10 times more than previously 
thought, according to a report written by a Nobel prize-winning economist 
and a Harvard budget expert.
The study, which expanded on traditional estimates by including such costs 
as lifetime disability and healthcare for troops injured in the conflict as 
well as the impact on the American economy, concluded that the US government 
is continuing to underestimate the cost of the war.

The report came during one of the most deadly periods in Iraq since the 
invasion, with the US military yesterday revising upwards to 11 the number 
of its troops killed during a wave of insurgent attacks on Thursday. More 
than 130 civilians were also killed when suicide bombers struck Shia 
pilgrims in Karbala and a police recruiting station in Ramadi.

The paper on the real cost of the war, written by Joseph Stiglitz, a 
Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, 
and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard budget expert, is likely to add to the pressure 
on the White House on the war. It also followed the revelation this week 
that the White House had scaled back ambitions to rebuild Iraq and did not 
intend to seek funds for reconstruction.

Complete article 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1681078,00.html
Report will be posted in future at Stiglitz website 
http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/

(To this total would be added the costs of other Coalition members)