Cost of war: Support for the war in Iraq among Americans remains strong, but the latest opinion polls suggest early optimism that the war will be over quickly and fairly painlessly has started to wane.
US President Bush is being forced to confront the costs of the invasion of Iraq not just in lives but in dollars. After stalling for months, the White House finds it can no longer resist pressure from Congress to put a price tag on its military venture.
Estimating the cost of the war has become more urgent as the uncertainty blew like a gale through Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Index slumped by over 300 points yesterday, its worst performance in seven months.
The indices had rallied last week on the assumption that the war might be over in days.
Full details of the estimated cost of the war will be released by the Pentagon today as it seeks a supplemental budget, but Mr Bush reportedly indicated to Congressional leaders at the White House yesterday that, including extra homeland security and humanitarian aid, the bill will be around $75 billion.
That sum is based on a vaguely defined, brief period of combat in Iraq and does not include the huge costs of reconstruction after the war, which the US hopes will be partly financed by Iraqi oil and help from other countries.
The refusal of the administration to make the figures public before now meant that the Republican-dominated Congress was forced to vote last week on budget resolutions that included Mr Bush's proposed tax cuts, without war costs factored in.
It also meant that discussion of war costs by Congress members are now being undertaken against the background of American soldiers risking their lives in combat and at a time when support for the war is at its highest.
The images of US soldiers and helicopter pilots in captivity has dented the confidence of the American public and raised questions about the strategy of making a dash for Baghdad, leaving supply lines vulnerable and cities seething with armed opposition.
US officials had forecast that American troops would be welcomed by opponents of Saddam Hussein in the south of the country.
Some 28 million leaflets were dropped over Iraq telling people that the US was coming to liberate them from an oppressive regime.
Pentagon spokeswomam Victoria Clarke bitterly attacked Iraqis for the "deadly deception" of Iraqi forces pretending to surrender and drawing US forces into ambushes. "Perfidy or treachery" was strictly forbidden in international law, she told a Pentagon briefing, adding "some have likened these acts to terrorism".
A poll taken on Sunday by ABC-Washington Post showed that about seven in 10 people said they supported the war and that it would be over in a few weeks. However, 54 per cent said that they thought the war would cause a significant number of casualties, compared with 37 per cent who felt that way late last week.
Other polls taken on Sunday, as television showed US forces encountering heavy resistance, indicated that public hopes that the war would be over quickly have started to fade.
According to a CBS-New York Times poll taken on Sunday, a majority, 53 per cent, said the war against Iraq could take months, while four in 10 said a few weeks.
A CNN-USA Today Gallup poll taken over the weekend found that the number who said the war is going well dropped from 62 per cent on Saturday to 44 percent on Sunday.
Anti-war demonstrations continued yesterday, with dozens of arrests in San Francisco.
In response to the anti-war movement, conservative organisations and right-wing radio stations have begun organising rallies in support of American troops across the country.