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Obama seeks $83.4b war money on Iraq and Afghanistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-10 08:06 WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama asked Congress on Thursday for US$83.4 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressing for special troop funding that he opposed two years ago when he was senator and George W. Bush was president.
Obama's request, including money to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, would push the costs of the two wars to almost US$1 trillion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Congressional Research Service. The additional money would cover operations into the fall. Obama is also requesting US$350 million in new funding to upgrade security along the US-Mexico border and to combat narcoterrorists, along with another US$400 million in counterinsurgency aid to Pakistan.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that Obama has been critical of Bush's use of similar special legislation to pay for the wars. He said it was needed this time because the money will be required by summer, before Congress is likely to complete its normal appropriations process. "This will be the last supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan. The process by which this has been funded over the course of the past many years, the president has discussed and will change," Gibbs said. Last June, US Congress approved US$66 billion in advance 2009 funding for military operations. All told, the Pentagon would receive US$142 billion in war funding for the budget year ending on Sept. 30. The request is likely to win easy approval from the Democratic-controlled Congress, despite frustration among some liberals over the pace of troop withdrawals and Obama's plans for a large residual force of up to 50,000 troops - about one-third of the force now there - who will train Iraqis, protect US assets and personnel and conduct anti-terror operations. The official request was sent early Thursday evening. The request would fund an average force level in Iraq of 140,000 US troops. It would also finance Obama's initiative to boost troop levels in Afghanistan to more than 60,000 from the current 39,000. And it would provide US$2.2 billion to accelerate the Pentagon's plans to increase the overall size of the US military, including a 547,400-person active-duty Army. |
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