Price tag for war in Iraq on track to top $500 billion

"The bitter fight over the latest Iraq spending bill has all but obscured a sobering fact: The war will soon cost more than $500 billion.

That's about ten times more than the Bush administratioanticipated before the war started four years ago, and no one can predict how high the tab will go."

"What could that kind of money buy?

A college education - tuition, fees, room and board at a public university - for about half of the nation's 17 million high-school-age teenagers.

Pre-school for every 3- and 4-year-old in the country for the next eight years.

A year's stay in an assisted-living facility for about half of the 35 million Americans age 65 or older."

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/30/2007 | Price tag for war in Iraq on track to top $500 billion