Latest cost estimate for occupying Iraq: up to $200 billion

Despite Pentagon's low figures, outside analysts' predictions were on target

MATT KELLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Olympian Online

WASHINGTON -- The Congressional Budget Office on Friday released a report estimating the total cost to occupy Iraq from 2004 through 2013 at between $85 billion and $200 billion, depending on how many American soldiers are needed and how soon they can leave Iraq.
Months before the U.S.-led war in Iraq, independent and congressional analysts made remarkably accurate predictions of the costs of a postwar occupation, even as the Pentagon refused to do so or gave very low estimates.

The discrepancy is gaining new attention with lawmakers complaining of the costs as they approve the president's request for $87 billion to occupy and rebuild Iraq.

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