Half a Bil... I mean Half a TRILLION dollars!

Let's for one instant try to forget about the cost of the Iraq war in terms of lives, property, and international regard for the U.S. and refocus on something that matters even to Republicans: the almighty Dollar. The latest round of legislation passed by Congress

...gave final passage yesterday to an $82 billion emergency war-spending bill, sending President Bush a measure that will push the cost of the Iraq invasion well past $200 billion.
...
By 2010, war costs are likely to exceed half a trillion dollars, according to nonpartisan congressional researchers.

While we should obviously spend whatever is needed to keep our troops safe and effective it's funny how this money is so readily available when it will be fed back in to big corporations / military contractors. Is money as readily available for teachers, social services, or funding the sciences?

[6/1/05 Update:]
Original Link isn't working.
Here's a related article with the important numbers: