SHOW: Marketplace 6:30 AM EST SYND September 21, 2004
White House taps into a $25 billion emergency fund to help pay for the war in Iraq
ANCHORS: DAVID BROWN
REPORTERS: JOHN DIMSDALE
DAVID BROWN, anchor:
In the Vietnam era, the word quagmire summed up a pattern: strategic failures followed by fresh waves of troops and a grim spiral. It's been said that Iraq is no Vietnam, but in Iraq, when one follows the money at least, critics can readily point to a familiar spiral. Those critics say that as failures mount, the US is throwing more money at the problem. That is not how the White House today justified its decision to tap a $25 billion emergency fund for Iraq. As MARKETPLACE's John Dimsdale report, the administration says this is about giving the troops what they need when they need it.
JOHN DIMSDALE reporting:
It was only a year ago that federal budget and military officials claimed the Iraqi war and reconstruction would be affordable. They predicted oil revenues would finance the transition to an Iraqi government and military and bolster the postwar economy. But continuing combat has forced the Pentagon to start using a contingency fund Congress approved for next fiscal year, which begins October 1st. John Pike at the defense policy Web site GlobalSecurity.org isn't surprised by the escalating costs of the war.
Mr. JOHN PIKE (GlobalSecurity.org): With all the ammo they've been expending, with all the gas they've been consuming, with the bombs that they've been dropping, I think it's easy to understand why they would have run out of money at the end of the year and have to dip into next year's account.
DIMSDALE: The Pentagon has spent $2 billion from the reserve fund, mostly for mobilizing troops who will provide security for Iraqi elections in January. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry claims the White House plans to call up additional National Guard troops after the US election. The Bush campaign calls that false and ridiculous. Still, at the United Nations today, the President Bush vowed to stay the course.
President GEORGE W. BUSH: The work ahead is demanding, but these difficulties will not shake our conviction that the future of Afghanistan and Iraq is a future of liberty. The proper response to difficulty is not to retreat, is it to prevail.
DIMSDALE: The Pentagon has so far spent $120 billion on the war in Iraq and is expected to ask for another $50 billion early next year. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for MARKETPLACE.
© Copyright 2004, Minnesota Public Radio
