In other Iraq news, a new study from two top economists says the cost of the war could reach $2 trillion dollars. The study, conducted by former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes, factors in a number of economic costs the authors say are a direct consequence of the war. These costs include about 20 percent of the $25 dollar a barrel gain in oil prices since the war began, at a cost to the United States of about $25 billion dollars.

The study also factors in the health care costs of over 16,000 wounded US soldiers, about 20 percent of whom suffer serious brain or spinal injuries. The authors also assume US soldiers will remain in Iraq until 2010 with significant declines each year. Writing of the dollar figures they estimated, Stiglitz and Bilmes write: “Even taking a conservative approach, we have been surprised at how large they are. We can state, with some degree of confidence, that they exceed a trillion dollars.”