Iraq On $256 Million a Day

Test Ticker

MOTHER JONES NEEDS YOUR HELP

Our fiscal year ends today, and we still need upwards of $60,000 in online donations to finish our budget at break-even, or as close as we possibly can. We’ve already cut $1 million in costs. We can't afford to come up short. And there’s more about why this is so urgent here, or in this primer about our nonprofit journalism and finances. Straight up: We can get there, but it's going to take more people who care enough about our journalism to be reading this blurb to pitch in and support it than normal. Please help if you can.

Mother Jones needs your help. Our fiscal year ends today, and we still need $60,000 in online donations to get to break-even, or a lot closer. We’ve already cut $1 million in costs. We can't afford to come up short. Learn more about why this is so urgent in “News Never Pays,” or about our finances and nonprofit operation here, and please support the journalism you get from us if you can right now. We need more help than normal.

Last Friday, President Obama announced that the remaining American troops in Iraq will leave the country by the end of 2011, fulfilling an agreement signed by the Bush administration in 2008. As the war winds down, here’s a quick reminder of the war’s price tag.

So far, the war has cost taxpayers around $7.8 billion a month, or $256 million a day. According to the Congressional Budget Office (PDF), from 2003 through 2012 the war will cost the United States a total of $823.2 billion, including military operations, reconstruction, and veterans’ medical costs.