Democrats' report on Iraq war attempts to tally total costs
WASHINGTON - The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion - roughly double the $804 billion the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.
The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the two conflicts, including "hidden" costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars and the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans.
Future economic costs would be even greater. The report estimated both wars would cost $3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017.
The report comes as the House and Senate plan to vote this week on another effort to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq as a condition for providing another $50 billion for the war.
Rates of sexually transmitted diseases climbing in the U.S. ATLANTA - More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year - the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.
Gonorrhea rates are also jumping again after hitting a record low, federal officials said Tuesday. At the same time, the rate of congenital syphilis rose for the first time in 15 years.
Nearly 1,031,000 cases of chlamydia were reported last year, breaking the single-year record for reported cases of an STD - previously set in 1978 by 1,013,436 cases of gonorrhea.
Compiled from Associated Press reports
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