posted on April 21, 2004 08:00:41 AM newPressure grows on Bush to seek additional funds
By Jonathan Weisman
Washingtonpost.com
Intense combat in Iraq is chewing up military hardware and consuming money at an unexpectedly rapid rate -- depleting military coffers, straining defense contractors and putting pressure on Bush administration officials to seek a major boost in war funding long before they had hoped.
Since Congress approved an $87 billion defense request last year, the administration has steadfastly maintained that military forces in Iraq will be sufficiently funded until early next year. President Bush's budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 included no money for Iraqi operations, and his budget director, Joshua B. Bolten, said no request would come until January at the earliest
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.
The Marine Corps' unfunded budget requests include $40 million for body armor, lightweight helmets and other equipment for "Marines engaged in the global war on terrorism," Marine Corps documents state. The Marines are also seeking 1,800 squad automatic weapons and 5,400 M4 carbine rifles.
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."
Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), who returned from Iraq on March 23, said senior Army officers and contractors told him "serious problems" will surface this summer if Congress does not approve more spending by June. Without the additional funding, food concession contracts will have to be renegotiated and operations and training bases in the United States will have to be cannibalized to finance operations in Iraq.
"If one American soldier in Iraq loses his life because Congress and the administration were afraid of the political consequences of another supplemental appropriations bill, shame on everyone who should be a part of that process," Edwards said.
posted on April 21, 2004 08:15:05 AM new
It's scandalous how Bush is postponing the deployment of additional troops and postponing a request for funds to finacce necessary equipment just so that his lily livered butt can be reelected. As usual, his self serving interest is primary...even more important than the welfare of the troops that he has placed in so much danger.
posted on April 21, 2004 08:10:18 PM new
And I'll place my bet that our Congress will give what is needed.
Would be fun though to watch the reaction IF kerry should say we should keep our troops there but NOT fund them again. Would wrap up the election real quick. LOL
posted on April 21, 2004 10:22:02 PM new
It's not really a laughing matter when soldiers are dying but I think I've mentioned this to you before as you've LOL'd away.
When is Bush going to have a war plan? It's been over a year now and things are getting worse in Iraq so he has to get his act together.
posted on April 22, 2004 03:35:03 AM new
Kerry has been to Iraq? I don't remember seeing that...
Will be interesting to see if the money issue is brought up before the election, of course maybe the President is waiting until June to see how things shake out then...
Any good plan will have the left screaming because so many Iraqi's are dying, however if we kill 10,000 insurgents to save the rest of the country, then so be it.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
It's too bad that their blindness can't see they are killing more soldiers than President Bush ever has... Protest Loud and Proud! Your fellow taliban and insurgents are rejoicing at the support...
posted on April 22, 2004 09:02:55 AM new
Not only is Bush asking for more money, but he left all funding for the Iraq invasion out of the budget figures.
That deficit you've been hearing about doesn't include all the money spent on Iraq.
Conservatives are now calling for the resignation of Rumsfield and Powell. Rice should go too. Her claim to fame is as a "Soviet Union" expert, and we can see that her "expertise" didn't translate at all to the Persian Gulf.
Bush has been a disaster for our country and the world.
We will bankrupt our children and have 600 dead soldiers so far just to deliver another country into the hands of Islamic radicals.
The longer we stay in Iraq and the more people die in Iraq, the more the Arab world supports the Islamic radicals.
