U.S.-led Wars Costing $15B Per Month

WASHINGTON -- Official estimates of the cost of the U.S.-led efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq place the total military spending at nearly $15 billion a month.

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the ranking Republican with the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee said in a Dec. 18 floor speech that the "cost of this war is approaching $15 billion a month, with the U.S. Army spending $4.2 billion of that every month," The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Stevens spoke in support of a $70 billion supplement to the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill to fund counter-terrorist activities and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq from Oct. 1, 2007, to March 31, 2008.

The Pentagon estimated $11.7 billion for monthly spending for the conflicts but a Congressional Research Service report said the Pentagon doesn't count covert and other intelligence activities it its cost estimates, the Post said.

The CRS report noted the cost estimates for the U.S.-led conflicts are 60 percent higher than for fiscal 2006, citing maintenance and upgrades to military equipment and units as contributing to the increase.

The current omnibus package expires after U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, testify before Congress on the situation in Iraq.