August 15, 2006 21:30 EST

[IChing]

Until the US has been in Iraq longer than in World War II

Counting from the day Germany declared war on the US (December 11, 1941)
to VE day (May 8, 1945). This is 1244 days.
The Invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 at 21:34 EST when the US began their first air strike on Baghdad.

On August 15, 2006 21:30 EST the United States will have been at war in Iraq longer than it was at war with Germany in World War II.

http://ironingtheflag.com/#ohnos

[serryjw]

1. Like your PIC

This fact makes my heart go pitter patter. Do we know how mquch money, adjusted for inflation, we have spent on both?

[IChing]

3. No, but I know we can find out of the $

The picture came from a German site BTW, no irony there.

Perpetual War What a concept!

[serryjw]

4. Great info......

A little old so the numbers are worse

According to current estimates, the cost of the Iraq War could exceed $700 billion.
In current dollars, the Vietnam War cost U.S. taxpayers $600 billion.
• Operations costs in Iraq are estimated at $5.6 billion per month in 2005.
By comparison, the average cost of U.S. operations in Vietnam over the eight-year war was $5.1 billion per month, adjusting for inflation.
• Staying in Iraq and Afghanistan at current levels would nearly double the projected federal budget deficit over the next decade.
• Since 2001, the U.S. has deployed more than 1 million troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
• 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 last 60 years.
• The number of journalists killed reporting the Iraq War (66) has exceeded the number of journalists killed reporting on the Vietnam War (63).


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0901-02.htm
http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/quagmire/IraqQuagmire.pdf

[IChing]

5. A little data for now

The Cost of War WWII

How much did the War cost the U.S.? $288,000,000,000
How much did the War cost Germany? $212,336,000,000
How much did the War cost France? $111,272,000,000
How much did the War cost U.S.S.R.? $93,012,000,000
How much did the War cost U.K.? $49,786,000,000
How much did the War cost Japan? $41,272,000,000
Direct economic costs of WWII? $1,600,000,000,000

http://www.ddaymuseum.org/education/education_numbers.html

This is from a year ago: I think also the truth of our expenditures with this administration are questionalble


More costly than 'the war to end all wars'

If the war lasts another five years, it will cost nearly $1.4 trillion, calculates Linda Bilmes, who teaches budgeting at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. That's nearly $4,745 per capita. Her estimate is thorough. She includes not only the military cost but also such things as veterans' benefits and additional interest on the federal debt.

But even in stripped-down terms, looking only at military costs and using current dollars, the war's cost for the US already exceeds that of World War I.

That's in money, not in blood and tears. Fatalities from the combined Afghanistan-Iraq conflict now exceed 2,000. American participation in 1917-18 in World War I, a war infamous for its trench-warfare slaughter, resulted in 53,513 US deaths.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0829/p15s01-cogn.html#chartIn constant inflation-adjusted dollars, the current conflict is the fourth most costly US war, behind World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. ( See chart below.)

[serryjw]

6. Yes, and the country

has an aging population,much higher deficit an energy problem,global warming, an aging infrastructure, an education system that is not competing in the global economy

[annabanana]

2. (9:30 tonight EST, for the non-military timereaders.)

That is just astounding.

[IChing]

7. Kick to remind you it has taken this long.....

to reach perpetual war.