Congress expects up to $100B wartime request

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a wartime request for up to $100 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.

That would be in addition to $50 billion Congress is about to give the Pentagon before lawmakers adjourn for the year for operations in Iraq for the beginning of 2006. Military commanders expect that pot to last through May."They were very ambitious," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank, who has close ties to the Pentagon.

Thompson said $100 billion would not be surprising, given that bills containing war spending often escape close scrutiny and have turned into Christmas trees for the Pentagon's pet projects. "The military hangs every wish, and every lost cause, onto the tree in hopes of getting it approved," Thompson said.

Steven Kosiak, an analyst at the private Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, called the figures cited by lawmakers extraordinary but not inconceivable."The number is so high," he said, "that it suggests that there's a significant amount of money in there for costs not directly related to the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/13399699.htm

Naaaaaah

:mad:

you have to request $100 billion so you can still cover the rest of the excessive military spending. Time to get the funny money presses rolling at the US Mint and don't forget to adjust that projected federal deficit number even higher. The WH and congress, aided by the pentagon, are doing a great job (of screwing us royally).

I guess George was right. . . Saddam was a greater threat than Hitler -- at least to our pocketbook, that's for sure.

and a 30-40 billion for other things aren't part of the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan?

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"it suggests that there's a significant amount of money in there for costs not directly related to the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

the clandestine operations that are engineered in such a way that 'plausible deniability' is assured. Sometimes it costs more to subvert the law.

The budget is totally out of control and they're losing a war against a badly disorganized insurgency. So what are these a-holes really up to? Obviously, winning wars isn't the objective, it's lining the war profiteers' pockets for as long as possible. Those are the Cheney/Bushevik crony corporations.

This spending is beyond Vietnam peak levels and they have a very small force in the field. As many dollars as possible are destined to land in war profiteer pockets.

and that the american people are broke now and can't afford to pay taxes for this anymore.

It they need it real bad, tell them seniors on medicad need those life sustaining drugs and poor kids need lunches, both of which we can't afford to help either. The defense industry can crawl to the bottom of the list and get CUT from the budget now. We can't afford them.