“WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Thursday that the air offensive in Libya had cost the Pentagon $750 million so far, more than originally expected for a conflict that Mr. Gates said he had never imagined the United States would enter.

In comparison, the war in Afghanistan costs the United States $100 billion a year. But unlike those costs, which are paid from a supplemental contingency fund, the expenses for Libya come out of the Pentagon budget.

“We’re fundamentally having to eat that one,” Mr. Gates told the Marines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/world/africa/13gates.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss