[Previous entry: "US trade deficit widens to record $68.5bn"] [Next entry: "Billionaires are dime a dozen on Forbes rich list"]

03/10/2006:

"U.S. Annual War Spending Grows"

WASHINGTON -- As the U.S. enters its fourth year in Iraq this month, the annual cost of military operations is growing -- even as the Pentagon assumes the number of troops there will shrink.

Monthly expenditures are running at $5.9 billion; the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan adds roughly another $1 billion. Taken together, annual spending for the two wars will reach $117.6 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 -- 18% above funding for the prior 12 months.

That escalation reflects the fact that America's military today is a higher-cost war machine than the one that fought in Vietnam decades ago. But it has also produced bipartisan concern in Congress that "emergency spending" for Iraq has become a way for the Pentagon to meet other needs.
wsj.com