Date: August 31, 2005 5:05:55 AM PDT
Subject: [Spy News] Iraq conflict costlier than Vietnam war
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Iraq conflict costlier than Vietnam war
Aljazeera.net
Wednesday 31 August 2005 - The US war in Iraq now costs more per month than
the average monthly cost of military operations in Vietnam in the 1960s and
1970s, says a report issued on Wednesday.
The report, entitled The Iraq Quagmire from the Institute for Policy Studies
and Foreign Policy in Focus, both liberal, anti-war organisations, put the
cost of current operations in Iraq at $5.6 billion per month. This breaks
down to almost $186 million a day.
"By comparison, the average cost of US operations in Vietnam over the
eight-year war was $5.1 billion per month, adjusting for inflation," it
said.
As a proportion of gross domestic product, the Vietnam War was more
significant, costing 12% of annual GDP, compared to 2% for the Iraq War.
However, economists said the Iraq war is being financed with deficit
spending and may nearly double the projected federal budget deficit over the
next 10 years.
The US Congress has approved four spending bills for Iraq so far with funds
totaling $204.4 billion and is expected soon to authorise a further $45.3
billion.
Costly war
"Broken down per person in the United States, the cost so far is $727,
making the Iraq War the most expensive military effort in the past 60
years," wrote authors Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver.
As public support for the war drops, more politicians, including some
Republicans, have begun to compare it to Vietnam.
The latest was Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who received two
Purple Hearts and other military honours for his service in Vietnam. He said
earlier this month that the United States was "locked into a bogged-down
problem, not dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam".
The total cost of the Vietnam War in current dollars was around $600 billion
and there are some experts who believe the Iraq War will eventually surpass
that total.
For instance, the Congressional Budget Office estimated this year that if
the United States managed to reduce its troop deployment to Iraq and
Afghanistan to 50,000 by 2010, the cost over the next decade would be an
additional $393 billion, which when added to the dollars already spent would
exceed the Vietnam total.
While there are far fewer troops in Iraq than there were in Vietnam at the
height of that conflict, the weapons they use are more expensive and they
are paid more.
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