WASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq have far exceeded the initial estimate, and final sum could top 1 trillion U.S. dollars, ABC News reported Friday.

    ABC analyst Tony Cordesman, who also holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the exorbitant costs come down to poor planning.

    "When the administration submitted its original budget for the Iraq war, it didn't provide money for continuing the war this year or any other. We could end up spending up to one trillion (dollars) in supplemental budgets for this war," he said.

    Other analysts say the increases can be blamed on the rising cost of maintaining military equipment and developing new equipment.

    As the cost of military equipment escalates, the cost of the war escalates.

    In fact, developing state-of-the-art weapons to defeat insurgents and their roadside bombs will hit the wallets of American taxpayers for years to come.

    The costs of the war have already far exceeded the Bush administration's initial projection of 50 billion dollars.

    According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments(CSBA), a Washington think-tank, for military operations alone, the United States spent 48 billion dollars for Iraq in 2003, 59 billion in 2004, and 81 billion in 2005.

    The center predicts the figure will balloon to 94 billion for 2006, which equates to a 1,205-dollar bill for each of 78 million U.S. families, on top of taxes they already pay.

    Except the budget for military operations, there will also be huge costs for rebuilding Iraq and compensating wounded U.S. soldiers and families of the dead ones.

    Meanwhile, there is no schedule for the end of U.S. military operations in Iraq and U.S. President George W. Bush had said that U.S. troops may remain there even after he leaves office in January 2009. Enditem