The administration of President George W. Bush now believes that just military aspects of an anticipated war with Iraq may cost the government as much as 95 billion dollars, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Citing unnamed administration and congressional officials, the paper said the amount did not include massive reconstruction costs that are expected to come later.

The officials said planners were pegging the Defense Department's costs for the expected war at 60 billion to 95 billion dollars, according to the report.

The expense of occupying and rebuilding Iraq, as well as providing humanitarian relief to as many as two million refugees, would be added to those costs, resulting in a marked increase in the 300-billion-dollar budget deficit the administration had projected for each of the next two years, The Post said.

Until now, administration officials have provided only vague estimates of the cost of a war with Iraq and its aftermath. Bush's aides have said the only benchmark they can provide is the cost of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which was 61.1 billion dollars excluding reconstruction costs, the paper said - Sapa-AFP