Horrors! $18 billion! Or, "Pennies a day"?

Further to Babbling's economically austere post: headlines like these cannot but affect our election:

CBC:

Canada's Afghan mission could cost up to $18.1B
Lack of consistency and transparency made figures difficult to estimate: report

CTV:

Afghan mission will top $18B by 2011: report

Globe and Mail (their special spin--see the "Harper=Bush" links here):

The political cost of Afghanistan

Toronto Star (also expected spin):

Afghan mission cost: up to $18B
Parliamentary budget officer pegs cost per household at $1,500 by 2011 - but warns it could be higher

Canwest News:

Afghan war cost could reach $18.1 billion by 2011.

Canoe.ca (via CP):

Cost of Canada's Afghan mission: up to $18 billion
The war in Afghanistan and rebuilding the shattered country will cost Canadian taxpayers up to $18.1 billion - $1,500 for every household - by 2011, says Parliament's budget officer [that's $1,500 over many years - MC].

What is it: "will top" or "up to"? (By the way the low estimate for the mission, many years later, is $13.9 billion, definitely not worth mentioning in headlines.) Do our "journalists" care about facts? Meanwhile, throughout the afternoon of Oct. 9 the CBC people on Newsworld kept asking, in effect, whether Canada could afford the mission in light of our presumed economic crisis.

Update: The Parliamentary Budget Officer's report is here.