$419 billion: Requested budget allocation in 2006 for the Department of Defense.  This figure excludes funds requested for Homeland Security and other operations.

$230 million: Sum pledged by President Bush for aid to Lebanon, which was devastated during the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. The newly promised aid, which will be used to reconstruct Lebanese infrastructure and homes, bolsters America’s previous meager offer of $50 million.

$50 billion: Money spent on rebuilding Lebanon — particularly its roads, power lines, medical facilities, airports, and sports locations — during the past ten years.  Lebanese infrastructure lay in ruins after the brutal 15-year-long civil war, which began in 1975, destroyed the former banking and mercantile hub of the Middle East. Lebanon is now again in ruins.

$2.5 billion: Lebanese government’s estimate of the cost of damage to the nation’s infrastructure after Israel’s most recent war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mimi Hanaoka