Stop me if you’ve heard this one:
The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday…. The new numbers underscore that the war is going to be far more costly and intense, and last longer, than the administration first suggested.
Keep in mind, there are lots of other expensive funding requests for Iraq that this $70 billion does not include.
The Army is expected to request at least an additional $30 billion for combat activity in Iraq, with $6 billion more needed to begin refurbishing equipment that has been worn down or destroyed by unexpectedly intense combat, another Appropriations Committee aide said…. The Marines will come in with a separate request, as will the Defense Logistics Agency and other components of the Department of Defense. The State Department will need considerably more money to finance construction and operations at the sprawling embassy complex in Baghdad. The Central Intelligence Agency’s request would come on top of those.
All of this comes just one month after the administration tapped a $25 billion emergency fund for the war, which the White House had said wouldn’t be necessary.
Didn’t Kerry catch all manner of flak for saying the war is costing taxpayers $200 billion? And didn’t Bush fire White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey for suggesting in 2002 that the war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion?