Study: Iraq to exceed real dollar cost of Vietnam

Above: Soldiers with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment prepare to clear the second story of a home in Baghdad's east Rashid District last week.

At $450 billion, the war in Iraq has already cost more than the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the Korean War. Within a year — and some $200 billion more in spending — Iraq will almost certainly exceed the cost of the Vietnam War, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).

And that’s just Iraq. The war in Afghanistan has cost $127 billion so far, according to CSBA budget studies chief Steven Kosiak.

By contrast, 10 years of battle in Vietnam cost the United States $518 billion. The Korean War cost $456 billion and the Gulf War cost $88 billion. About 90 percent of Gulf War costs were paid by U.S. allies.

The costs of past wars are reported in current dollars, meaning they have been adjusted to account for inflation, Kosiak said in a Sept. 12 report.

Read the rest at Army Times

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