Global Policy Forum

By Mark Tran

As President George Bush today formally asks Congress for $75bn (£48bn) for the war in Iraq, his emergency request has already come under fire. The proposal includes $63bn for the war itself - enough to keep American troops in Iraq for nearly five months - $8bn for international aid and relief, and $4bn for homeland security.

Of the $63bn for the war effort, $53bn will go towards the deployment of troops, $5bn to replenish weapons and $1.5bn in payments to Pakistan and others, and unspecified classified expenses, most likely for the CIA. The $8bn for international relief and reconstruction in Iraq is notable in that most of that money is not even meant for Iraq, but for those countries deemed to have been helpful to the US war effort. Iraq gets $3.5bn ($2.5bn in a relief fund and much of the rest for oil field repair), while the rest goes to Jordan, Israel, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Colombia and some eastern European countries.

Despite all the headaches it has caused the White House, Turkey is slated to receive $1bn. The US had offered Ankara a $6bn aid package, hoping to win its agreement to station American troops on Turkish soil for a northern front. Not only did the Turkish parliament reject the US plan, Ankara is also now raising the prospect of deploying its own troops in Kurdish-held areas in northern Iraq, a move bound to inflame Kurdish sentiment and complicate US plans for a post-Saddam Iraq.

The request for additional funds to cover the war in Iraq has already set alarm bells ringing among economists who worry about its impact on the ballooning budget deficit - analysts are warning that America's deficit could break through $400bn this year, once additional war costs are added to the budget. Few believe that the $74bn Mr Bush has requested will cover the complete costs of the war. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog organisation, told the Washington Post that the costs of war would exceed $110bn in 2003, assuming the war ends before May, and $550bn over 10 years, a figure in line with other unofficial estimates.

The group calculated that the military has already spent $1bn on cruise missiles, $380m on chemical protective suits and more than $100m on air combat missions. Administration officials have said that the war would cost less than the 1991 Gulf war, which came to more than $80bn. However, the US paid only $9b on that occasion, as America's allies, notably Saudi Arabia, picked up the rest of the tab in a war that had widespread international support in stark contrast to the present conflict.

As Mr Bush goes to Congress today with his emergency request, Democrats have accused the administration - which steadfastly refused to produce estimates of the war's cost while Congress was considering Mr Bush's budget plan - of failing to come clean on the full costs of the war effort. "I know people think this will pay for the war," David Obey, a senior House Democrat told the Washington Post. "It most definitely will not. This is, in my view, the first instalment."

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