at what cost

while Cash meant for Iraqis 'misused' and Reconstruction chaos as US cash runs dry and the US military 'at breaking point yet, Rumsfeld Says Military Not Overextended

and more importantly the cost to the iraqis,

Grinding Poverty, Insecurity Plague Iraqis: Report

BAGHDAD, January 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Nearly three years after the US-led invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq, more Iraqis are falling prey to grinding poverty and countless others are terrified in the insecurity-marred country.

Recent estimates indicated that one fifth of the onetime rich Iraqis are living below the poverty line since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, while indiscriminate attacks using car bombs and resistance operations against US forces have jumped by 30% in 2005.

"A study conducted by the ministry in coordination with the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Program shows that 20 percent of the population is affected by poverty," Leila Kazem, director general of the department of social affairs at the labor ministry, told Agence France Presse (AFP) Wednesday, January 25.

"Some two million Iraqi families live under the poverty line, as defined by international criteria, which is fixed at one dollar per day per person."

A recent study by Iraq's health ministry in tandem with Norway's Institute for Applied International Studies and the UN Development Program (UNDP) said children are paying the silent cost of the US-led occupation with malnutrition rates exceeding by far those in the world’s poorest and disease-plagued countries.