Pentagon's Request for Iraq Includes Money for Troops and Rewards

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 — Even as the Bush administration pleads with allies to send peacekeepers to Iraq, $1.2 billion in hedge money is buried deep inside President Bush's financing request for Iraq in case the Pentagon is forced to mobilize two more National Guard brigades, squeeze the Army to send more troops to Iraq or send marines for a year.

At least $3 billion in the overall request is classified to pay for intelligence activities, Special Operations missions, experimental weapons and even runways in a nation that supports America's efforts but does not want to be identified. One program pulled out of the laboratory and sent to the field is a robot used to detect and destroy remote-controlled bombs that have been planted against troops and convoys with deadly effect, military officials say.

The administration's $20.3 billion request for Iraqi reconstruction has been under the hot lamp of Congressional scrutiny, but the vastly larger portion of the emergency spending bill — $65.6 billion for Pentagon activities, military operations and classified programs — has drawn few complaints.

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But there are some surprises.

The administration continues to plead with countries like South Korea and Turkey to fill a third multinational division for Iraq. But even as the administration tells its allies, justifiably, that it would be difficult to find enough Americans to go if foreign troops do not materialize, it will not be hard to find the money to pay for them, if Congress passes the supplemental request unchanged.
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http://nytimes.com/2003/10/05/international/middleeast/05PENT.html