More US troops killed after than during the war an Iraq

On August 26, the Pentagon announced that more U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq since the end of the war (announced on May 1), than during the conflict itself, between March 20 and May 1. 277 American soldiers have been killed since the launch of operation Iraqi Freedom – 138 during the war, and 139 after President Bush had announced on May 1st that the “mission had been accomplished” in Iraq and that the war was over.

Well, it seems that it is far from being over, with the U.S. military planning to stay for at least three more years, at a cost of $3.9 billion per month. President Bush asked Congress for an extra $87 billion to finance military operations and reconstruction in Iraq. U.S. authorities do not want to say what the final cost of this war and reconstruction will be, but experts say it could amount to $600 billion. So the real winner in this war seems to be the financial institutions who will lend all this money, and the losers, all of the American taxpayers, with the U.S. Government heading this year for a record deficit of over $450 billion.