In a nationally televised prime-time address last night, President Bush said that he would ask Congress for $87 billion in emergency spending for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that Iraq had now become what he called “the central front” in the campaign against terrorism.

The speech was Bush’s first from the White House since he announced the bombing of Baghdad on March 19. He omitted any mention of how long American troops would remain in Iraq, how much the operation will ultimately cost and the administration’s failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Citing Defense Department figures, USA Today is reporting that the monthly bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan now rival the Pentagon’s average monthly spending during Vietnam. That tab doesn’t include reconstruction costs.