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Megan McArdle on Bush's new $70billion Iraq request:

A HEARTENING SIGN FOR HAWKS The administration is apparently planning to ask for $70 billion more for the war in Iraq, which will bring the total price tag to about $225 billion. Yes, that's a lot of money, but on the other hand, remember when folks like Eric Alterman were telling us it was going to cost trillions?

Whew! Just a quarter trillion! Keep shruggin' there, Atlas!

But let's put $225 billion in a more accurate context:

“I’ve asked the American people to foot the tab for $20 billion of reconstruction…Others are stepping up as well, 13 billion out of the Madrid Conference…The Iraqi oil revenues – excess Iraqi oil revenues, coupled with private investments, should make up the difference.” -George W Bush, 10/28/03

“Costs of any such intervention would be very small.” -Glen Hubbard, White House Economist, 10/4/02

"There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." -Paul Wolfowitz, 3/27/03

"Well, in terms of the American taxpayers' contribution, I do; this is it for the U.S. The rest of the rebuilding of Iraq will be done by other countries who have already made pledges ... But the American part of this will be one-point-seven billion dollars. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this." -Andrew Natsios, Bush USAid Director, 3/23/03

"We don't anticipate requesting anything additional for [Iraq for] the balance of this year." -Joshua Bolten, Budget Director, 7/29/03

Paul Wolfowitz “dismissed articles in several newspapers this week asserting that Pentagon budget specialists put the cost of war and reconstruction at $60 billion to $95 billion in this fiscal year.” -Wolfowitz, 2/28/03

“Iraq, unlike Afghanistan, is a rather wealthy country. Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”-Ari Fleischer, 2/18/03

Iraq will be “an affordable endeavor," "that will not require sustained aid” and will “be in the range of $50 billion to $60 billion." -Mitch Daniels, Budget Director, 4/11/03

(quotes via Center for American Progress)