We've spent 400 billion so far, and they still don't have enough. Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out - never in the history of our military has the Secretary of the Army withheld the budget. Not enough troops, not enough equipment, not enough money.
An extraordinary action by the chief of staff sends a message: The Pentagon must increase the budget or reduce commitents in Iraq and elsewhere.
By Peter Spiegel, Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Army's top officer withheld a required 2008 budget plan from Pentagon leaders last month after protesting to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the service could not maintain its current level of activity in Iraq plus its other global commitments without billions in additional funding.
The decision by Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, is believed to be unprecedented and signals a widespread belief within the Army that in the absence of significant troop withdrawals from Iraq, funding assumptions must be completely reworked, say current and former Pentagon officials.
"This is unusual, but hell, we're in unusual times," said a senior Pentagon official involved in the budget discussions.
Schoomaker failed to submit the budget plan by an Aug. 15 deadline. The protest followed a series of cuts in the service's funding requests by both the White House and Congress over the last four months.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military25sep25,0,5555967.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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