Iraq Spending Bill to Test Democrats

Iraqis watch the television news showing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meeting with President George W. Bush, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006. President Bush said Thursday the United States will speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but assured Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Washington is not looking for a "graceful exit" from a war well into its fourth violent year. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban) (Samir Mizban - AP)

There is increasing concern about the cost of the war and the fact that Iraq spending is kept on a set of ledgers separate from the rest of government operations.

It is possible that the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group could affect the spending request.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress has approved about $500 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan and other terrorism-fighting efforts.

The Vietnam War cost an inflation-adjusted $121 billion at its height in 1968, according to the Congressional Research Service. The overall tally for Vietnam is $663 billion, adjusted for inflation, while Iraq so far come to about $350 billion.

The cost of the war has risen dramatically as the security situation has deteriorated and more equipment is destroyed or worn out in harsh conditions.

The Pentagon increasingly is using war spending bills for costs not directly related to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said the four military services could add projects connected to the broader fight against terrorism, which critics said could be interpreted to cover almost anything.

"He was telling the services to put any damn thing they wanted into the supplemental," said Winslow Wheeler of the Center for Defense Information, a think tank policy group, in Washington. Such costs include buying cargo planes and restructuring Army outfits into smaller, more nimble fighting units.

England's memo led to inflated requests that are now being "scrubbed" by higher-ups at the Pentagon. While that could lower the price for the February request, Wheeler said, the services are likely to try again in future bills.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman had no comment on the upcoming request for money.

Democrats have not been shy about adding money not sought by the president to war bills. Most notably, the Senate in August included $13 billion for Army and Marine Corps combat readiness in a Pentagon budget measure that had $70 billion in Iraq.

Farm-state lawmakers such as Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., may try to use the Iraq debate to push billions of dollars in agricultural disaster aid.