The Possible Costs to the United States of Maintaining a Long-Term Military Presence in Iraq
Abstract
At the request of Senator Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the possible costs to the United States of maintaining a long-term military presence in Iraq similar to the U.S. forces in the Republic of Korea and the Northeast Asia region. The nature and pace of operations of such a presence, if any, in Iraq for one or more decades into the future are uncertain. To accommodate a range of possibilities, CBO has projected costs under two scenarios: a combat scenario, which would involve rotating military units into and out of Iraq to sustain U.S. operations in a combat environment (as is now being done); and a noncombat scenario, which would involve stationing specific military units indefinitely at established bases in the region in a less hostile environment. If U.S. military operations in Iraq were to develop into a long-term presence, such forces could differ substantially from those assumed in either of the scenarios used in this analysis. Moreover, the two scenarios are not mutually exclusive over time: The more intensive pace of combat operations could give way to the slower pace of noncombat operations over some number of years. In any event, the ultimate costs of any long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq would depend heavily on the scale and pace of future operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA472156
Entities
Organizations
- Congressional Budget Office