Iraq costs US $3.9bn/month
2003-07-10 10:23
Washington - US defence department officials put a price-tag on Wednesday on two major US overseas military operations, saying that commitments in Iraq cost about $3.9bn per month, while monthly US military spending in Afghanistan comes to about $950m.
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld revealed those figures at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The hearing aimed to draw lessons learned from recent US military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld and recently-retired General Tommy Franks - who until earlier this week led US Central Command - agreed with various members of the panel that the military contingents on the ground in Iraq should include a broad array of nations, in part to help foot the enormous costs of postwar occupation and reconstruction.
- AFX