Free Republic

WASHINGTON - A possible war with Iraq has so many variables that estimating its cost is impossible, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said after Democrats complained that the White House was not offering an estimate. The surge of U.S. troops into the region around Iraq continued, meanwhile, as the Pentagon (news - web sites) on Thursday dispatched a sixth aircraft carrier and stealthy B-2 bombers to bolster forces already numbering more than 200,000. Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters Thursday alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said trying to come up with a cost for the range of Iraq war scenarios "simply isn't...

By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 29 January 2002 Chances are you haven't spent a whole lot of time wondering how many Jupiter-like planets exist in our galaxy. But Charley Lineweaver has, because it bears on a more important question: How many potentially habitable planets are there? New calculations by Lineweaver and Daniel Grether, both of the University of New South Wales in Australia, provide an encouraging answer to this question. The researchers expect a flood of Jupiters will be found, perhaps 50 percent more than currently expected. Each such discovery would be significant...