Defense: Birthing a Behemoth

The biggest, most crucial, yet least predictable segment of the budget is defense. And though the Administration is striving mightily to keep it to a minimum, the Pentagon last week was in labor with a behemoth.

The defense budget's most elusive variable is the war in Viet Nam. The conflict is now costing around $2 billion a month, up 100% in the past year. One item alone, the amount of aerial ordnance unleashed over North and South Viet Nam, is already equal to the World War II level, and has surpassed that of Korea. The U.S. has lost 560...

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