Reuters: REFILE-Pentagon sees U.S. war cost in Iraq rising

[Eugene]

REFILE-Pentagon sees U.S. war cost in Iraq rising
Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:46pm ET

(Refiles to fix typo in subhead)

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The steadily rising Iraq war price tag will reach
about $8.4 billion a month this year, Pentagon spokesmen said on Thursday, as heavy
replacement costs for lost, destroyed and aging equipment mount.

The Pentagon has been estimating last year's costs for the increasingly unpopular
war at about $8 billion a month, having increased from a monthly "burn rate" of around
$4.4 billion during the first year of fighting in fiscal 2003.

During testimony at a House Budget Committee hearing, Deputy Defense Secretary
Gordon England said that nearly four years into the war, the Pentagon's war costs were
rising because it was having to replace big-ticket items such as helicopters, airplanes
and armored vehicles that are wearing out or were lost in combat.

-snip-

When factoring in U.S. combat costs in Afghanistan, the Pentagon will spend about $9.7
billion a month during the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, according to Pentagon
spokesmen.

-snip-

Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-01-18T234625Z_01_N18181226_RTRIDST_0_IRAQ-USA-FUNDING-CORRECTED.XML

From the Associated Press...

Pentagon Changes War Funding

By ANDREW TAYLOR
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 18, 2007; 7:11 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will abandon the practice of financing military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through emergency spending requests that have relatively
little supporting detail, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the House Budget Committee that President Bush's
upcoming budget request for 2008 would be accompanied by an estimate for that year's war costs.
England said Bush's $100 billion-plus emergency war request for the 2007 budget year, to be
sent the same day, would be the last multibillion-dollar request, also known as a supplemental.

"In '08, there's not a plan to have a supplemental," England said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801453.html