Financial cost of the Iraq War The following is a partial accounting of financial costs of the 2003 Iraq War by the United States and the United Kingdom , the two largest non - Iraqi participants of the multinational force in Iraq . U . S . war costs . Direct costs . The costs of the 2003 - 2010 Iraq War are often contested , as academics and critics have unearthed many hidden costs not represented in official estimates . The most recent major report on these costs come from Brown University in the form of the Costs of War project , which said the total for wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Pakistan is at least $ 3 . 2 - 4 trillion . The report disavowed previous estimates of the Iraq War ' s cost as being under $ 1 trillion , saying the Department of Defense ' s direct spending on Iraq totaled at least $ 757 . 8 billion , but also highlighting the complementary costs at home , such as interest paid on the funds borrowed to finance the wars and a potential nearly $ 1 trillion in extra spending to care for veterans returning from combat through 2050 . An update in 2013 topped this at US $ 6 trillion . Those figures are dramatically higher than typical estimates published just prior to the start of the Iraq War , many of which were based on a shorter term of involvement . For example , in a March 16 , 2003 " Meet the Press " interview of Vice President Dick Cheney , held less than a week before the Iraq War began , host Tim Russert reported that " every analysis said this war itself would cost about $ 80 billion , recovery of Baghdad , perhaps of Iraq , about $ 10 billion per year . We should expect as American citizens that this would cost at least $ 100 billion for a two - year involvement . " Appropriations . It is unclear why no breakdowns are offered on the basis of each war Indirect and delayed costs . According to a Congressional Budget Office ( CBO ) report published in October 2007 , the U . S . wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $ 2 . 4 trillion by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money . The CBO estimated that of the $ 2 . 4 trillion long - term price tag for the war , about $ 1 . 9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq , or $ 6 , 300 per U . S . citizen . Joseph Stiglitz , former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics , and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University , have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario , described in their book " The Three Trillion Dollar War " and possibly more in the most recent published study , published in March 2008 . Stiglitz has stated : " The figure we arrive at is more than $ 3 trillion . Our calculations are based on conservative assumptions . . . Needless to say , this number represents the cost only to the United States . It does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world , or to Iraq . " A 2013 updated study pointed out that U . S . medical and disability claims for veterans after a decade of war had risen to $ 134 . 7 billion from $ 33 billion two years earlier . The extended combat and equipment loss have placed a severe financial strain on the U . S Army , causing the elimination of non - essential expenses such as travel and civilian hiring . Military equipment lost . The U . S . has lost a number of pieces of military equipment during the war . The following statistics are from the Center for American Progress ; and they are only approximations that also include vehicles lost in non - combat - related accidents as of 2009 . Air equipment . In June 2006 , the Army said that the cost of replacing its depleted equipment tripled from that of 2005 . As of December 2006 , according to government data reported by the Washington Post , the military stated that nearly 40 % of the army ’ s total equipment has been to Iraq , with an estimated yearly refurbishment cost of $ US 17 billion . The military states that the yearly refurbishment cost has increased by a factor of ten compared to that of the pre - war state . As of December 2006 approximately 500 M1 tanks , 700 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 1000 Humvees are awaiting repair in US military depots . U . K . war costs . As of March 2006 , approximately £4 . 5 billion had been spent by the United Kingdom in Iraq . All of this money has come from a government fund called the " Special Reserve " which has a current allocation of £7 . 4 billion . As of 2013 , UK Afghanistan war alone cost have been calculated as £37bn . In June 2010 , UK costs exceeded £20bn for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined .