Bush Requests Another $70B for Iraq

by Chris Bowers, Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 07:35:09 PM EDT

The news cycle isn't helping Bush:The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday. The Pentagon must want Bush to lose if they are releasing this information now.

Don't worry though. $70B sounds like a lot, but Bush will pay for it by giving tax breaks to companies for sending jobs overseas.

Tags: World (all tags)

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I can't believe...

...they didn't try to keep a lid on this for another week and a half. Are they trying to put Kerry in the White House?

by Geotpf 2004-10-25 07:41PM | 0 recs

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seriously

It was probably leaked by someone who wants Bush to lose. I'm surprised that Dyer went on the record about a new appropriation even existing, let alone being large... the story must have gained quite a lot of momentum.

by drewthaler 2004-10-25 08:49PM | 0 recs

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Emergency...

Emergency funding, eh? That would logically mean the situation over there is an emergency.

But its so typical of liberals to only want to throw money at something to solve a problem!

Ugh, what has happened to our country?

by dstein 2004-10-25 08:14PM | 0 recs

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The antibodies

America is rejecting the alien that has invaded us. The CIA, the Pentagon, and others, are working mightily to reject this infection in our body politic. Let's do all we can to help and get out the vote on election day, and then fight in the streets if we must.

by Alan S 2004-10-25 08:18PM | 0 recs

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Use it like a hammer

This story, coming right after the unguarded explosive story, has to be used like a hammer on Bush/Cheney.

If this story gets the same level of play that the explosive story got, Bush will drop like a stone this week.

by James Earl 2004-10-25 11:04PM | 0 recs

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Out of Touch Meme

This $70B request can also be used to strengthen the "out of touch" meme Kerry-Edwards have been tattooing on Bush-Cheney. It's yet another example of how Dubya doesn't know what's going on inside his own administration and how little he knows about the real situation in Iraq. If we can't trust him with his budgeting, how can we trust him with the defense of the nation and the safety of its citizens?

by VizierVic 2004-10-26 02:57AM | 0 recs

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What's Going On??

Is the media picking up in the 377 ton missing explosive story? Seems to me it should have enough legs to walk all over bush (couldn't happen to a nicer guy, or at a better time). Please tell me it's getting some play over there.

by swissmiss 2004-10-26 03:28AM | 0 recs

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Actually...

I'm not so sure this is pro-Kerry. Remember that the issue of the $85 billion supplemental has HURT Kerry, not helped him. I think that the Pentagon is trying to reprise that issue here. The next step is for Bush to ask Kerry if he will support the $70 billion or not... and Kerry's answer will be, what?

by BigModerate 2004-10-26 07:56AM | 0 recs

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Bad news being leaked

No, I think that it's clear that there are a lot of federal employees in positions of power who really don't like this administration. They are selectively leaking bad stuff day by day. If you look back over the last couple of weeks, we've been getting stuff on this administration pretty consistently. With luck, whoever it is probably has enough dirt on the bushies to last through the election. There are enough civil service employees in the justice department, the pentagon, the CIA, homeland security, etc who hate bush with enough passion to leak a ton of stuff.

And, no, this $70B outlay isn't going to touch Kerry. It's another indication of how much this disaster in Iraq is costing us.

by myjlf 2004-10-26 09:09AM | 0 recs

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Re: Bad news being leaked

I sure hope we'll be getting more good leaks from here on in, but of course we shouldn't count on it.

I'm not sure this $70B is going to hurt Bush all that much, but it certainly won't help him. Bush wants to talk about "terror," in an abstract sense reflecting his resolve and all that crap, and definitely not about anything specific on Iraq, since it reminds everyone what a disaster it is. More specific bad news regarding Iraq also probably makes Bush's references to "Iraq" in the abstract sense less helpful for him as well, to whatever agree it hasn't already stopped helping him.

by Haggai 2004-10-26 09:40AM | 0 recs

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This confirms

that the $200 billion figure Kerry used in the debates for the cost of the Iraq war was on the low side. At the time the SCLM called it a Kerry untruth in order to play at even-handedness in the face of Bush's brazen lies.

by berith 2004-10-26 03:38PM | 0 recs