What is the cost of war? The figure in President Bush's requested 2006 budget to Congress would put it at $419.3 billion in military funding.
An additional $82 billion, added on Monday, was requested prior to the $2.5 trillion 2006 budget Bush initially submitted. It will be counted as deficit spending.
Entered as a supplemental budget request, the Bush administration has been criticized by moderate and conservative Democrats for using this method as a way to avoid intense scrutiny. Late requests typically aren't looked over as thoroughly as the initial budget.
So, is the slick Texan trying to slide something by us now?
Actually, there are many reasonable expenditures in the $82 billion. Primarily, he is asking for $74.9 billion for the Defense Department in order to, among other things, provide soldiers in Iraq with much needed vehicles. He's also planning to increase death benefits for families of service members killed in combat and to equip Iraqi military police.
Among the other items is $950 billion to help areas affected by the tsunami disaster, $2.24 billion for various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, $200 million in education and border security aid for the Palestinians and hundreds of millions more to aid the economic and military problems of countries around the world.
There isn't much to scrutinize Bush about in what these requests seek to do. He seems to be making amends in areas where he's received criticism, such as improperly supplying soldiers, ruining foreign relations and being stingy with tsunami aid.
Even former presidential candidate Democratic Sen. John Kerry is backing Bush on this move. Kerry announced that "money is important to our being successful?" It's hard to fight that logic.
Although Bush's requests are warranted for pressing needs outside the United States, the fact that his budget inadvertently is calling for restrained spending on a variety of government programs shouldn't be ignored by any means. Aid ranging from farm subsidies to health programs for those in poverty will be cut in the name of military pursuits abroad.
Believers of the "government puts its nose into foreign business and ignores America's problems too often" philosophy are sure to be angered. The United States is still at a critical point in trying to rebuild the economy and increase employment. With the dollar continually falling against foreign currency, undercutting programs could perturb or stunt U.S. growth.
In defending its supplemental requests, a White House official made the case that paying for the war on terrorism is not going to be a "permanent, ongoing cost."
It's a hard pill to swallow while impending problems are forming with North Korea and Iran.
In the end, the damage has been done abroad, and it has to be cleaned up. The process just seems to be taking a very long time. The real repayment of this debt will only come when Bush has moved our forces out of Iraq and we've reached peaceful terms with nations that look to wield nuclear weapons - if that day ever comes.
