1971 when they were published by the new york times. it s similar to what happened with the pentagon papers because a strategy is being called into question. the rosy picture that s being painted is not the real picture on the ground. reporter: to date the u.s. has not carried out a come prehence iive accounting of how much it went in the war. the government spent or appropriated between $934 billion and 978 billion according to an inflation adjusted estimate. 90% of what the u.s. spent was over call. the post obtained the documents from the freedom of information act after a three year request. monday it was said there s been no intent by d.o.d. to mislead