Making Daily Headlines · Page 3
Iran War Bill Reaches $47.1 Billion Before the Final Receipt
· New York time
The war with Iran had cost the U.S. military at least $47.1 billion as of mid-October, according to a U.S. Central Command estimate obtained by CBS News. The figure gives taxpayers a substantial, if incomplete, measure of the military cost of the conflict. The words at least matter as much as the number. The estimate covers costs through a particular point in time, rather than announcing a final price for a conflict whose future course remains uncertain. A budget can print a number neatly even when the events behind it refuse to fit neatly within a box. For lawmakers and the public, the estimate makes the scale of spending harder to discuss as an abstraction. Military operations consume resources that must be accounted for alongside other demands on the federal budget. The figure does not decide the policy debate, but it does put a very large number in the room whenever that debate takes place. The government's accounting has acquired the feel of a restaurant tab presented while the table is still ordering. The subtotal is already remarkable, the end time is not printed on the receipt, and nobody can responsibly call the current figure the final bill. The next assessment will depend on what happens after mid-October, not on how tidy this one looks.
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