GEORGE BUSH'S GO IT ALONE STICKER SHOCK
New Report Reveals True Cost of Iraq War
A new report today reveals that, less than two years after administration officials told us that Iraq could be liberated and security restored on the cheap, George W. Bush is planning to ask for $70 billion - maybe more - in taxpayer funding for Iraq next year alone.
NEW REVELATION: Bush Will Request $70 Billion More For Iraq Next Year
Bush to Request $70 Billion More for Iraq, Pushing Total Costs Close to $225 Billion. "The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year," a total "considerably larger than lawmakers had anticipated." While the request had not yet been finalized, the Army was expected to request an additional $30 billion for combat operations in Iraq, including $6 billion to refurbish equipment worn out by "unexpectedly intense combat." Other Pentagon agencies, the State Department, and the CIA likely would also ask for funds. A $70 billion supplemental request would push "total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year." [Washington Post, 10/26/04]
BUSH'S FANTASY: The War Could Be Fought And Won For Pennies
Daniels Estimated War Would Cost $50-60 Billion. "The administration's top budget official [Mitch Daniels] estimated today that the cost of a war with Iraq could be in the range of $50 billion to $60 billion, a figure that is well below earlier estimates from White House officials..." [New York Times, 12/31/02]
Wolfowitz Said Reconstruction Will Pay for Itself Through Oil Revenues. "And the real number would not be what's going to get you to the rest of the fiscal year, but what is it going to be over two to three years. And on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the of the next two or three years… We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." [House Appropriations Committee, 3/27/03]
USAID Administrator Said Reconstruction Would Cost $1.7 Billion. Question: "All right, this is the first. I mean, when you talk about 1.7, you're not suggesting that the rebuilding of Iraq is gonna be done for $1.7 billion?" Andrew Natsios, USAID Administrator: "Well, in terms of the American taxpayers contribution, I do, this is it for the US. … the American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this." [ABC Nightline, 4/23/03]
REALITY: War Was Already On Track to Cost $200 Billion War in Iraq Estimated to Cost $200 Billion Through September 2005. There was $128 billion in supplemental funding for Iraq, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The FY05 defense authorization bill had approximately $21.8 billion in funding for Iraq. Additionally, the GAO has estimated that there is approximately $10.7 billion in cost overruns in FY04 for Iraq. A conservative estimate of the remaining costs for December 2004 - September 2005 is $43.2 billion, based on a burn rate of $4.8 billion per month. [Kosiak, Steven, "Funding for Defense, Military Operations, Homeland Security, and Related Activities Since 9-11," Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 1/21/04; Bloomberg News, 8/23/04; Testimony of Acting Under Secretary of Defense Lawrence Lanzillotta to Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, 6/2/04; "Fiscal Year 2004 Costs for the Global War on Terrorism Will Exceed Supplemental, Requiring DOD to Shift Funds From Other Uses," GAO, July, 2004]
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