Iraq and Afghan costs 'to double'
The costs of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq this year are likely almost to double to £3.3bn, MPs have warned.
The Commons defence committee said operational costs for this financial year were now forecast to reach £3.297bn - a 94% increase on last year.
This included a "surprising" 52% rise in Iraq to £1.449bn, despite ongoing falls in troop numbers.
Last year's total spending on the two conflicts was £1.698bn.
While the committee recommended that the House of Commons should accept the estimates, it said the Ministry of Defence needed to provide more information on how the additional cash was being spent.
Chairman James Arbuthnot said: "Few people will object to the investment being made in better facilities and equipment for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"However, this estimate represents a lot of public money. The MoD needs to provide better information about what it is all being spent on."
.....How can the costs in Iraq be going up? There's hardly anyone left!
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Thread title edited for clarity, I WISH we were only spending 3.3B pounds in Iraq rather than the 100 billion or so a month we are now.
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
What on earth is all that money being spent on? It certainly can't be equipment.
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Well I bet the Type 45 order and the Carriers will be cut to pay for this, and we'll be left with a barely equipped and gutted armed forces.
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