# What will the war in Iraq cost us?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-war-in-iraq-cost-us/194349>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 11, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-war-in-iraq-cost-us/194349 "2003-08-11T11:19:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-war-in-iraq-cost-us/194349/1 "2003-08-11T11:19:33Z")

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I’m thinking in terms of dollars only. What will the conflict cost the United States, overall.

I know Bush has already asked Congress for [74 Billion dollars](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-24-bush-cost-war_x.htm), and I’ve heard estimates that it will likely cost 3 times that amount.

Anybody care to give an estimate on what it will cost? Including Haliburton’s contract?

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-war-in-iraq-cost-us/194349/2 "2003-08-11T22:18:38Z")

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I believe Rumsfeld has already told Congress that the Pentagon expects to spend $1 billion per week in Iraq, and that our minimum time there will be five years.

So we get  
$1 billion/week x 52 weeks/year x 5 years = $260 billion, _minimum._ :eek: