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$50 bln more asked for Iraq, Afghan, terror wars
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8491258

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended an additional $50 billion be set aside to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism.

The proposed new war spending for fiscal 2006, which starts Oct. 1, would push the cost of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath toward $250 billion.

Before the invasion, then-White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey said a conflict with Iraq could cost $100 billion to $200 billion. He was derided by administration colleagues and lost his job in December 2002.

The recommendation for fresh emergency spending was sent to the full Senate on Thursday night as part of a bill that also would authorize $441.6 billion in regular defense spending in fiscal 2006, a 3.1 percent real increase over the sum authorized by Congress last year.

Three days ago, Congress gave final approval for an $82 billion emergency war-spending bill, of which about $76 billion would go to fighting the war.

Even with such a large emergency funding measure, Pentagon officials have said more money would be needed as early as October.

The White House Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, said it had not sought the additional $50 billion recommended by the Armed Services Committee.

"We prefer to request emergency funds if and when they are needed," said Scott Milburn, an OMB spokesman. "The nature of the conflict means long-term projections of those needs are difficult to make."

The new measure had bipartisan support. It is expected to be taken up by the full Senate as early as the end of this month. Once passed by the Senate, it needs to be reconciled with the House of Representatives' version, then approved by both chambers and signed by President Bush to become law.

"I am particularly pleased that the bill will authorize $50 billion to support the day-to-day military operations of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq," Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, said in a statement.

U.S. Iraq costs could total about $208 billion as of Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, including about $183 billion for the Defense Department, plus about $25 billion for reconstruction, embassy and related costs, said Amy Belasco, a defense budget analyst at the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress.

"If the additional $50 billion proposed by the Senate Armed Services Committee for fiscal 2006 splits between Iraq and Afghanistan along the lines of previous Defense Department spending reports, the cost of Iraq could then reach $250 billion," she said.

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Worth remembering this from November, I suppose:

Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/

(CNN) -- The Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera released a full transcript Monday of the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden in which the head of al Qaeda said his group's goal is to force America into bankruptcy.

Al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday but released the full transcript of the entire tape on its Web site Monday.

"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah," bin Laden said in the transcript.