Pentagon: Iraq War Faces $4B Shortfall

[Pale_Rider]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4006572,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two days of Capitol Hill hearings on Iraq have produced some new details on Bush administration plans for the beleaguered campaign, but not all that lawmakers had hoped for.

The final session this week was scheduled for Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice also planned a rare visit to the Capitol on Thursday to meet with Republican lawmakers.

Her meetings were planned to give lawmakers a chance to hear a review of developments in Iraq and pose questions to one of President Bush's closest advisers, officials said Wednesday.

The Pentagon's top general said Wednesday that increased violence in Iraq is pushing the cost of the war over budget, threatening a $4 billion shortfall by late summer.

$4B and counting ...

[wtmusic]

1. Here we go again

* back to Congress with his hand out...

[mulethree]

2. better before November than after

Hopefully this war will make them trim the fat. Must be a few more "porky" procurements they can cut off. Maybe some of the 1,100,000 active duty positions that aren't in Iraq could like take over some "contractor" positions.

[wtmusic]

3. Yeah I've heard enough about the $3000/wk security guards

while vet benefits are being cut.

[Morning Dew]

8. Support the troops? Indeed. Unfunded, unfunded, unfunded...

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/8479660.htm?1c
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The military already has identified unmet funding needs, including initiatives aimed at providing equipment and weapons for troops in Iraq. The Army has publicly identified nearly $6 billion in funding requests that did not make Bush's $402 billion defense budget for 2005, including $132 million for bolt-on vehicle armor; $879 million for combat helmets, silk-weight underwear, boots and other clothing; $21.5 million for M249 squad automatic weapons and $27 million for ammunition magazines, night sights and ammo packs. Also unfunded: $956 million for repairing desert-damaged equipment and $102 million to replace equipment lost in combat.
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Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, charged that the president is playing political games by postponing further funding requests until after the election, to try to avoid reopening debate on the war's cost and future.

Weldon described the administration's current defense budget request as ''outrageous'' and ''immoral,'' and said that at least $10 billion is needed for Iraqi operations over the next five months.

''There needs to be a supplemental, whether it's a presidential election year or not,'' he said. ``The support of our troops has to be the number one priority of this country. . . . Somebody's got to get serious about this.''
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[phoebe]

4. gosh - and we were led to believe that Iraqi oil was supposed to

pay for this "war". The private contractors are going to have to "pay to play" - the bulk of the money has been going to line their coffers and push up their stock prices.

American troops don't have basic necessities or money to cover their gas/electric bills while their wives are paying through the nose to put a gallon of gas in their cars to get their uninsured kids to the doctor and pay inflated prices for food.

What is wrong with this picture?

[cliss]

5. Everything I've read about this war tells me

that this administration was only focused on the short-term.

1) They had no plans for post-war Iraq.

2) The refused to divulge the true cost of the war, even when asked by members of Congress. That's NOT including the costs we're looking at today. This was over 1 year ago.

3) They have admitted that they did not expect the resistance to be as intense as it is.

4) They sold all of Iraq to the highest bidder; construction contracts, stores, malls are all scheduled to be built. All built on a "rosy" scenario. Who could guess that a Muslim Pizza Hut would be blown to bits?

5) They dumped on the U.N. because they saw it as "irrelevant". Again, they could not see the day when they would need them.

6) They entered Oil Revenue as an "Accounts Receivable" on Halliburton's books a little early. They did not foresee that Iraqis would sabotage the oil pipleline like they have.

They're nothing but short-termers. They remind me of a vacuum cleaner salesman who puts his foot in the door and weasels his way into the living room. All he cares about is the sale.

[Old and In the Way]

7. Looks like the PNACle clubs grand vision for the "Pax Americana"

will be about 98 years short of their expectations. If it was a movie, I'd have wanted Peter Sellers playing George Bush. The 3 Stooges could be Perle, Wolfiewitz, and Rumsfield. John CLeese would be Cheney.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Time for another taxcut.

That will get the government revenue stream needed to pay the war.

I wonder how much the Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia occupations will cost?

[Bhaisahab]

9. this war is costing america 4bn a month!

which means 48 billion a year! just think of the GOOD that could be done with that kind of dough. i could support the entire 100 million people living below the poverty line in my country with that!