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Feb. 6, 2008 – 2:01 p.m.

Gates Pressed for War Cost Estimate

Pressed by lawmakers, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that
military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan would cost about $170 billion in fiscal
2009, bringing the total cost to about $1 trillion.
But Gates immediately repudiated the estimate, saying “I have no confidence in that
figure.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin , D-Mich., had insisted Gates
give his best estimate of fiscal 2009 war funding needs, citing a law requiring the full
year’s war costs be included in the administration’s budget request.
The $585.4 billion request includes only $70 billion for war costs, less than half the
amount expected to be needed. Administration officials said they wanted to wait for
the much-anticipated report and testimony this spring of Gen. David Petraeus, the
top U.S. military commander in Iraq, before deciding how much to request for the full
year.
But that decision has sparked a dispute with Democratic leaders in Congress, who
insist on a full year’s accounting.
The fiscal 2007 Defense authorization measure (PL 109-364) requires a full and
detailed estimate of expected war costs in the budget request. Bush, however, raised
a constitutional objection to that provision when he signed the bill, and the federal
courts have not addressed the issue.
“While the monetary cost is not the most important part of the debate over Iraq or
Afghanistan, it does need to be part of that debate, and the citizens of our nation
have a right to know what those costs are projected to be,” Levin said.
Sen. Bill Nelson , D-Fla., said that the White House, not the Pentagon, was to blame
for the antagonizing budget tactics. He applauded Gates’ admission of the true
estimate, even despite the caveats.
“This is part of the candor that we need,” Nelson said.