HOW UNVIETNAMLIKE:

Monthly costs of Iraq, Afghan wars approach that of Vietnam (Dave Moniz, 9/7/2003, USA TODAY)

The monthly bill for the U.S. military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan now rivals Pentagon spending during the Vietnam War, Defense Department figures show.

The Pentagon is spending nearly $5 billion per month in Iraq and Afghanistan, a pace that would bring yearly costs to almost $60 billion. Those expenses do not include money being spent on rebuilding Iraq's electric grid, water supply and other infrastructure, costs which had no parallel in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, the last sustained war the nation fought, the United States spent $111 billion during the eight years of the war, from 1964 to 1972. Adjusted for inflation, that's more than $494 billion, an average of $61.8 billion per year, or $5.15 billion per month.

That doesn't seem possible: How'd Johnson and Nixon manage to spend that much yet never replace the regime in North Vietnam nor rebuild the country? Too bad George W. Bush wasn't president in 1964--we'd have saved a lot of money and lives.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 9, 2003 7:10 PM