Cord Byrd: “since before this war began, I have asked repeatedly of this administration what their estimate of the cost of this war…”

“since before this war began, I have asked repeatedly of this administration what their estimate of the cost of this war is. Do you have any estimate? We get a blank stare. I cannot believe that an administration is going to lead a country into war without having some inside estimates by the very capable people who surround the President about what this war would cost. Of course, nobody--least of all me--would ever expect the administration to be able to say it is going to cost $2.785 trillion. But I, others, and the American people were seeking some kind of a realistic range-- and now more so than then. Now we know that it has been testified to in the Armed Services Committee that the war in Afghanistan is costing $3.9 billion a month. We know that. That wasn't known just at the beginning of that day. I am sure the Defense Department had already run the estimate and had come out with the figures. Why couldn't the administration use those figures and say to the Congress, well, we estimate that it is costing in Iraq $3 billion, $3.5 billion, between $3.5 billion and $4.1 billion, or something like that? We just get stonewalled when we ask questions of that kind. I think Congress is entitled to better than that.”