'The war in Iraq will cost US taxpayers at least three trillion dollars, a respected, Nobel Prize-winning economist wrote in a new book which was excerpted in the US press this week.

Joseph Stiglitz's book "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict," concluded that US military operations in Iraq already have exceeded the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean War.

"The only war in our history which cost more was the Second World War, when 16.3 million US troops fought in a campaign lasting four years, at a total cost (in 2007, inflation-adjusted dollars) of about five trillion dollars," he wrote in the work co-authored with Harvard professor Linda Bilmes.

"With virtually the entire armed forces committed to fighting the Germans and Japanese, the cost per troop (in today's dollars) was less than 100,000 dollars in 2007 dollars. By contrast, the Iraq war is costing upward of 400,000 dollars per troop."'

Labels: censorship, George W Bush, war

"Early findings by the FBI on a September shootout in Baghdad involving private security firm Blackwater show that at least 14 Iraqis were killed for no reason, The New York Times reported.

In all, 17 people were killed when Blackwater private security guards opened fire in a crowded Baghdad neighbourhood as they protected a State Department convoy.

Blackwater said the guards came under attack.

At least 14 of the shootings broke rules for private security guards in Iraq regarding the use of deadly force, the Times reported, citing unnamed civilian and military officials briefed on the case.

US officials contacted by AFP declined to comment for this news story, citing the "ongoing investigation."

"Sorry, but given that this is an ongoing investigation, we are not in a position to comment at this time" said Dean Boyd, a Department of Justice spokesman.

Blackwater has been accused by its detractors of having a cowboy mentality and a 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach when guarding the steady stream of politicians, diplomats and other dignitaries who parade through war-torn Iraq."

Labels: corruption, war

"Reconstruction

Wars, sanctions and looting had left Iraq's infrastructure in ruins before the post-conflict insurgency took hold."

Labels: business, corruption, oil, war