Senate Approves Higher War Costs
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – The human and financial cost of the Iraq war rose to eye watering new levels yesterday with the Senate approving $66.6 billion in further funding for the Pentagon’s wars as the American death toll in Iraq rose to 2,500.
The vote, by 98-1 in favor of the new emergency spending bill, brings to almost $320 billion the cost of the war in Iraq, and $89 billion for the war in Afghanistan.
Iraq Body Count, an independent online database that monitors civilian casualties in Iraq, said at least 38,355 civilians have been killed since the war began in 2003.
The Pentagon said 1,972 soldiers have been killed in action and another 528 have died from “non-hostile” causes, including accidents. More than 18,000 have been wounded.
