sarettah
09-08-2003, 09:12 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/politics...&partner=GOOGLE (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/politics/09COST.html?ex=1063684800&en=32a24b5ef326bdef&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
78% of Bush's Planned War Costs Is to Go to Military
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
ASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — President Bush's $87 billion request for postwar costs is heavily weighted to maintaining military operations, with $66 billion directed to the armed forces, $15 billion toward rebuilding Iraq and $800 million to new spending for civilian programs in Afghanistan, administration officials said today.
The $87 billion price tag makes the package the most expensive postwar military and civilian effort since the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, after adjusting for inflation. Combined with the earlier $79 billion approved by Congress to conduct the war and pay initial postwar expenses, it would bring the cost to the United States of deposing Saddam Hussein and stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next to $166 billion. That is more than 25 times the $6.3 billion bill to American taxpayers, in today's dollars, for the 1991 Persian Gulf war to expel Iraq from Kuwait.
Most of the cost of the 1991 conflict — $60 billion at the time or about $80 billion in today's dollars — was picked up by allies, including Saudi Arabia and Japan.
This time around, administration officials said, their main financial goal is to squeeze donations from other countries toward the difference between the $15 billion the United States plans to put toward physical reconstruction of Iraq and the total cost, which the White House put at $50 billion to $75 billion.
White House officials said Mr. Bush's request, higher than the $60 billion to $70 billion that Congress had expected, should cover all costs for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. But some analysts said the figure might still prove to be low, especially if the United States cannot quell the growing terrorist threat within Iraq.
"This is the beginning of the administration presenting realistically eye-popping numbers to the American people," said Rachel Bronson, director of Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The number is probably on the low side of what's needed, but we're finally in the realm of realism."
In his speech Sunday night, Mr. Bush himself compared his plans to rebuild Iraq with the effort following World War II, saying, "America today accepts the challenge of helping Iraq in the same spirit."
His request, though, amounted to an abandonment of a more optimistic plan sketched by administration officials earlier in the year. The administration told Congress in the spring that Iraq's oil revenues would be sufficent to pay the bulk of the postwar costs, which they estimated then would be low.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told a House subcommittee in March that Iraq could generate $50 billion to $100 billion of oil revenue over the next two to three years. "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon," Mr. Wolfowitz said at the time.
78% of Bush's Planned War Costs Is to Go to Military
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
ASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — President Bush's $87 billion request for postwar costs is heavily weighted to maintaining military operations, with $66 billion directed to the armed forces, $15 billion toward rebuilding Iraq and $800 million to new spending for civilian programs in Afghanistan, administration officials said today.
The $87 billion price tag makes the package the most expensive postwar military and civilian effort since the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, after adjusting for inflation. Combined with the earlier $79 billion approved by Congress to conduct the war and pay initial postwar expenses, it would bring the cost to the United States of deposing Saddam Hussein and stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next to $166 billion. That is more than 25 times the $6.3 billion bill to American taxpayers, in today's dollars, for the 1991 Persian Gulf war to expel Iraq from Kuwait.
Most of the cost of the 1991 conflict — $60 billion at the time or about $80 billion in today's dollars — was picked up by allies, including Saudi Arabia and Japan.
This time around, administration officials said, their main financial goal is to squeeze donations from other countries toward the difference between the $15 billion the United States plans to put toward physical reconstruction of Iraq and the total cost, which the White House put at $50 billion to $75 billion.
White House officials said Mr. Bush's request, higher than the $60 billion to $70 billion that Congress had expected, should cover all costs for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. But some analysts said the figure might still prove to be low, especially if the United States cannot quell the growing terrorist threat within Iraq.
"This is the beginning of the administration presenting realistically eye-popping numbers to the American people," said Rachel Bronson, director of Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The number is probably on the low side of what's needed, but we're finally in the realm of realism."
In his speech Sunday night, Mr. Bush himself compared his plans to rebuild Iraq with the effort following World War II, saying, "America today accepts the challenge of helping Iraq in the same spirit."
His request, though, amounted to an abandonment of a more optimistic plan sketched by administration officials earlier in the year. The administration told Congress in the spring that Iraq's oil revenues would be sufficent to pay the bulk of the postwar costs, which they estimated then would be low.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told a House subcommittee in March that Iraq could generate $50 billion to $100 billion of oil revenue over the next two to three years. "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon," Mr. Wolfowitz said at the time.