KEY POINTS:
The total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to be US$1.6 trillion - double the amount President George W. Bush says it will cost.
A report entitled "The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War" says the true cost of the wars is almost double the US$804 billion the White House has requested for military operations up to 2008.
It says the wars could cost the United States US$3.5 trillion ($4.5 trillion) by the end of 2017 if "hidden costs" like higher oil prices, care for wounded soldiers and interest on borrowed money are counted.
The report, prepared by Democrats in Congress, says an average American family of four has already paid more than US$20,000 to fund the President's military adventures.
The estimate, in a report through the Joint Economic Committee, is about US$1 trillion higher than an October 24 analysis of war costs by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which mostly weighed direct war expenditures and borrowing costs of more than US$700 billion.
The new report assumed the US would withdraw about half of its present combat troops from Iraq by 2013 and maintain 75,000 soldiers there from 2013-2017.
The Democratic majority in Congress will this week make another - probably doomed - attempt to force Bush to withdraw US troops from Iraq, before providing him with the US$50 billion he has requested to keep the war going.
Since taking the majority last year, the Democrats have forced 40 votes on bills limiting Bush's war policy. Not one has passed in the House and the Senate, even though both are run by Democrats.
The only war legislation that has been passed by this Congress has handed Bush precisely what he wants: unrestricted access to money to continue the wars.
Despite his rock-bottom approval rating, Bush remains in charge when it comes to fighting wars. The Democrats are divided among themselves, unsure whether to cut and run or fund the troops. Constant failure by the Democrats to force change in Iraq has reinforced the party's political weakness. That has given Republican candidates hope in the 2008 election campaign.
Despite the overwhelming popular opposition to the war in Iraq, the number of American families directly affected through death or injury remains limited. Now the Democrats are trying to show that wars are placing a huge burden on families not directly affected by the fighting.
"This report makes crystal clear that the cost to our country in lives lost and dollars spent is tragically unacceptable," said Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
The report says: "The full economic costs of the war to the American taxpayers and the overall US economy go well beyond even the immense federal budget costs already reported."
It says the war is diverting billions of dollars away from "productive investment" in the US. Economic disruption caused by reservists being taken away from their jobs is costing employers up to US$2 billion.
Both conflicts are expected to cost US$3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017 - a burden of US$46,400 for an average American family.
"We cannot afford this war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. He added that 3860 US troops have been killed and 38,164 wounded in Iraq.
The senior Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Representative Jim Saxton of New Jersey, questioned the accuracy of the cost estimate: "The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq certainly involve costs, but prematurely pulling out of these wars would also include huge costs that are ignored in the Democrats' report."
CNN reported Office of Budget and Management Director Jim Nussle dismissing the report, saying "the Congressional leadership is attempting to manipulate economic data for public relations purposes".
"There are several ... distortions within the report, such as attempting to tie war costs to overall business investment and the price of oil."
The US military is sending 3000 soldiers home from Diyala province, the second large unit to leave Iraq as troop levels are cut after a 30,000-strong "surge".
- Independent, Reuters
