“The Iraq Quagmire” is the most comprehensive accounting of the mounting costs and consequences of the Iraq War on the United States, Iraq, and the world. Among its major findings are stark figures that quantify the continuing of costs since the Iraqi elections, a period that the Bush administration claimed would be characterized by a reduction in the human and economic costs. Vietnam Echoes * 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). A New Kind of Quagmire * More than 210,000 of the National Guard’s 330,000 soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. * Guard mobilizations average 460 days. * Nearly a third of active-duty troops, 341,000 men and women, have served two or more overseas tours. Cost to Iraq * The U.S. controls 106 military bases across Iraq. Congress has budgeted $236 million for permanent base construction in FY2005. * At least 23,589 to 26,705 Iraqi civilians have been killed. * On average 155 members of the Iraqi security forces have died every month since the January 2005 elections, up from an average of 65 before they were held. * Suicide attack rates rose to 50 per month in the first five months of 2005, up from 20 per month in 2003 and 48 in 2004. * Iraq’s resistance forces remain at 16,000-40,000 even with the U.S. coalition killing or capturing 1,600 resistance members per month. And the World’s Less Safe * The State Department reported that the number of “significant” terrorist attacks reached a record 655 in 2004, up from 175 in 2003. * The Iraq War has weakened the UN’s authority and credibility.