How the Fuck Is Iraq Costing More Than Vietnam?

From the Washington Post:

"The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double before the war ends, the Congressional Research Service estimated this week. . . .

Once the war spending bill is passed, military and diplomatic costs will have reached $101.8 billion this fiscal year, up from $87.3 billion in 2005, $77.3 billion in 2004 and $51 billion in 2003, the year of the invasion, congressional analysts said. Even if a gradual troop withdrawal begins this year, war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to rise by an additional $371 billion during the phaseout, the report said, citing a Congressional Budget Office study. When factoring in costs of the war in Afghanistan, the $811 billion total for both wars would have far exceeded the inflation-adjusted $549 billion cost of the Vietnam War."

Let me get this straight, we were in Vietnam for over a decade and had troop levels exceeding 500,000. Now we have been in Iraq for three years with troop levels ranging from 130,000 to 170,000. We've been in Afghanistan since late 2001. We currently have 18,000 troops there. I might be wrong here, but we haven't rebuilt much of anything in either of these countries, yet we've still blown $320 billion in just Iraq. There are 27 million people in Iraq. If equally divided up $320 billion, each and every Iraqi would get $11,851. If you divide $811 billion by the 290 million people in America, that's $2,796 for every single person. George Bush told us this would be free. Now you, me, and everyone else must $2,800 and gas prices twice what they were before the Iraq war. George Bush sure didn't tell us about this in 2002 and 2003. So ask yourself, was the war really worth 2,400 dead US Soliders, 17,000 wounded, 100,000 dead Iraqis and a destroyed country. For those Americans ready and willing to pay their fair share of the war, please make your check out to Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, or George Bush.