LIBYA

Cost of Libyan Intervention: $550 Million and Counting

Libyan rebels leave the rebel held port of Brega to the front line on March 29, as forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi pushed rebels back in east Libya. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

By Julia Edwards

Updated: March 29, 2011 | 5:00 p.m.
March 29, 2011 | 10:28 a.m.

How much military intervention in Libya is going to cost the U.S. is high on the list of questions for the Obama administration.

The Department of Defense is spending $2 billion each week in Afghanistan and, experts predict, will face $23 billion in cuts should Congress not pass a revised budget.

Among those in Congress who want an answer is Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We argue over where to cut $100 million here and there from programs many people like,” Lugar said. “So here comes an open-ended military action with no end game envisioned.”

Although the forecast is still murky, we’re taking a look at the price tag on the equipment American troops are using now and how much experts predict will be spent with continued U.S. involvement. For more estimates and details of congressional pushback on the Libyan mission, read Megan Scully’s assessment from five days into the conflict.