An irrational military budget

As debates still rage about the consequences for Iraq, the Middle East, and the standing of the United States in the world, the Pentagon's ever mushrooming budget and its long-term influence on the US economy may turn out to be its most lasting consequence.

The US Defense Department's request for $515.4 billion in the 2009 fiscal year dwarfs every other military budget in the world. And this huge sum - a 5 percent increase over the 2008 military budget - is to be spent only on the US military's normal operations, thus excluding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since he took office in 2001, US President George W. Bush has increased America's regular military budget by 30 percent, again not taking into account the cost of the wars he launched.