The United States has about 141/2 times as many troops in Iraq as in Afghanistan — 132,000 compared with 9,000. Yet the average monthly cost of U.S. military operations in Iraq has been running at about four times the cost of operations in Afghanistan — $4.4 billion compared with $1 billion. This disparity has caused some head-scratching among appropriators on Capitol Hill and raised some eyebrows — and accounting eyeshades — in the Pentagon. Based on costs in Afghanistan, has the U.S. taxpayer been getting a bargain in Iraq? Or has Iraq been more the measure of what costs should be, making Afghanistan appear excessively expensive? Full Story