War on terror $7 billion a
month
Billings Gazette/AP
Associated Press
October 7, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is spending about $7 billion a month to
wage the war on terror, and costs could total $570 billion by the end of 2010,
assuming troops are gradually brought home, a congressional report
estimates.
The paper by the Congressional Research Service underscores how the price
tag has been gradually rising for the war in Iraq. A year ago, the Pentagon was
calculating its average monthly costs in that conflict at less than $5 billion
- an amount the research service says has grown to almost $6 billion.
Those expenses are growing even as recovery costs from hurricanes Katrina
and Rita and mammoth federal deficits are intensifying pressure on the Bush
administration and Congress to find ways to save money.
A separate study by the Congressional Budget Office found it will be
difficult for the Pentagon to sustain current troop levels in Iraq and
Afghanistan without rotating troops into the war zone more frequently and using
more National Guard brigades. And even those steps will not be adequate
long-term solutions.
The budget office study echoed earlier reports suggesting that if current
combat demands continue, the Army will have serious problems keeping enough
soldiers trained and ready.
Both studies add more fodder to the increasing congressional and public
unease about the Iraq war, even as President Bush and members of his
administration this week stepped up their defense of the war on terror.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration has allocated about $361
billion for military operations, reconstruction and other programs in Iraq and
Afghanistan, including $50 billion for 2006 in legislation working its way
through Congress, the Congressional Research Service report says. The service
is one of Congress' investigative arms.
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