<KEY3>
01-26-2005, 08:37 PM
news source (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106693414836&call_pageid=970599119419)
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the price tag for that invasion and ongoing operations in Afghanistan close to $300 billion, six times the original White House estimate.
The total is well beyond the estimate of $200 billion (U.S.) put forward by onetime White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey — subsequently dismissed for his forecast — and is the number Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once derided as "baloney" on network television.
http://www.ups.edu/faculty/veseth/globaloney/baloney.gif
Bush's request, which Congress is expected to approve next month, came five days before Sunday's watershed Iraqi elections, amidst reports that at least 120,000 Americans will remain there through the end of next year.
The White House said $75 billion of the $80 billion will go directly to military operations in Iraq, raising this year's total to $105 billion for a war that was already costing $5 billion per month.
It also conceded the spiralling costs were the result of an Iraqi insurgency that has surpassed all U.S. estimates in its size and commitment.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now costing almost half the $623 billion the U.S. spent during the entire 14-year Vietnam War, when adjusted to 2005 dollars.
While the cost of the war escalated, Democrats in the U.S. Senate took advantage of a day-long debate on the confirmation of Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice to signal they will vigorously oppose Bush's foreign policy in a second term, despite their reduced ranks following November's election.
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the price tag for that invasion and ongoing operations in Afghanistan close to $300 billion, six times the original White House estimate.
The total is well beyond the estimate of $200 billion (U.S.) put forward by onetime White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey — subsequently dismissed for his forecast — and is the number Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once derided as "baloney" on network television.
http://www.ups.edu/faculty/veseth/globaloney/baloney.gif
Bush's request, which Congress is expected to approve next month, came five days before Sunday's watershed Iraqi elections, amidst reports that at least 120,000 Americans will remain there through the end of next year.
The White House said $75 billion of the $80 billion will go directly to military operations in Iraq, raising this year's total to $105 billion for a war that was already costing $5 billion per month.
It also conceded the spiralling costs were the result of an Iraqi insurgency that has surpassed all U.S. estimates in its size and commitment.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now costing almost half the $623 billion the U.S. spent during the entire 14-year Vietnam War, when adjusted to 2005 dollars.
While the cost of the war escalated, Democrats in the U.S. Senate took advantage of a day-long debate on the confirmation of Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice to signal they will vigorously oppose Bush's foreign policy in a second term, despite their reduced ranks following November's election.