War’s Price Tag: $808 Billion and Rising

Congress has provided a total of $808 billion in annual and supplemental appropriations to the Defense Department to cover military operations in the Global War on Terror between 2001 and March 2009, according to the Government Accountability Office. Since the new fiscal year began last Oct. 1, Congress has given DoD $65.9 billion in supplemental funding for the war. President Obama plans to ask for another $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations to cover the remainder of the fiscal year. The costs associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom have risen each year since hostilities began, the GAO stated in a March 30 report to Congress, chiefly because of personnel costs such as pay, food, and housing, and higher fuel costs. In contrast, the cost of defending U.S. airspace under Operation Noble Eagle have declined steadily as the frequency of air missions diminished and stateside installations upgraded security capabilities. The Afghanistan mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, has cost between $10.3 billion and $20.1 billion annually since it began in 2003. That price tag will likely rise, GAO stated, under administration plans to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan.