Reuters December 09, 2004
Funding for U.S. Military Operations in Iraq Could Surge
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration, facing mounting violence in Iraq and demands for upgraded equipment, is assembling a funding package for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that could surge beyond earlier estimates to as much as $75 billion to $100 billion, congressional sources and experts said on Thursday.
Administration and congressional officials estimated in October that the funding package would total between $60 billion and $75 billion.
The Army's request alone could top $51 billion, far more than the $35 billion to $40 billion cited by the Army chief of staff in October, congressional sources said.
The Marines are also expected to push for billions of dollars more as the Pentagon increases troop strength for Iraqi elections scheduled for January.
Two congressional sources said the size of the emergency spending bill, which President Bush will send to Congress early next year, could swell to between $75 billion and possibly $100 billion, depending on the level of violence in the coming months. That would include billions of dollars to upgrade equipment and purchase more armored vehicles.
John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, said the rate of spending in Iraq, already at more than $1 billion a week, could grow to $1.5 billion or more. "It's going to be a pretty big number," he said.
Administration officials said it was premature to estimate the size of the funding package. One official cautioned that initial estimates by the military services "tend to be high" and are often trimmed back in final negotiations between the Pentagon and the White House. He suggested that the figures were little more than trial balloons.
Officials said the size of the package will also depend on how much of the Pentagon's $25 billion contingency fund is spent. The administration has said that any unused funding would be applied toward next year's needs.
Bush has promised to provide U.S. troops with whatever they need, and said on Thursday that concerns about inadequate equipment for Iraq combat were being addressed.
Meeting with troops in Kuwait on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld heard several complaints, including one from Spc. Thomas Wilson that U.S. forces were forced to dig up scrap metal to protect their vehicles in Iraq because of a shortage of armored ones.
"The process of determining the amount of the (funding) request is still very far from final, but it will be completed in time for Congress to consider and act on it so there is no disruption in support," said Chad Kolton, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
In addition to money for military operations in Iraq, the Bush administration's request is expected to include $1 billion to $2 billion for the construction of a U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq and $780 million to crack down on drug production in Afghanistan, congressional sources said.
The request may also include additional funding for the Palestinian Authority, which is organizing elections for January to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat.
Officials said rising fuel costs would add $3 billion or more to next year's price tag. World oil prices have skyrocketed since the start of the year, in part because of the turmoil in Iraq.
White House budget director Joshua Bolten would not discuss the size of the package, but said: "We prefer to do it as late as possible so that we know what our needs are going to be."
Bolten said he did not expect the Defense Department's "funding streams to be constrained at all at any time between now and the release of the budget" in early February.
So far, Congress has approved $120 billion for Iraq and another $60 billion for Afghanistan, according to White House estimates. On top of that, Congress set up the $25 billion contingency fund for the Pentagon, a portion of which has already been spent.
Democratic critics accused Bush and his top advisers of understating the costs of the war and reconstruction.
Before the invasion, then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels predicted Iraq would be "an affordable endeavor," and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz assured Congress: "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."
© Copyright 2004, Reuters
