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Iraq

Report cites steady rise in cost of war on terror

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is spending about $7-billion a month to wage the war on terror, and costs could total $570-billion by the end of 2010, assuming troops are gradually brought home, a congressional report estimates.

The paper by the Congressional Research Service underscores how the price has been gradually rising for the war in Iraq. A year ago, the Pentagon was calculating its average monthly costs in that conflict at below $5-billion - an amount the research service says has now grown close to $6-billion.

A separate study by the Congressional Budget Office found it will be difficult for the Pentagon to sustain current troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan without rotating troops into the war zone more frequently and using more National Guard brigades. And even those steps will not be adequate long-term solutions.

The budget office study echoed earlier reports suggesting that if current combat demands continue, the Army will have serious problems keeping enough soldiers trained and ready.

On Thursday, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham said the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has grown to 152,000 and probably will hold near that level at least through the Oct. 15 referendum on a draft constitution.

The troop total is now at its highest since shortly after the January elections for an Iraqi National Assembly. At the time, U.S. commanders increased their forces to about 160,000 in anticipation of increased insurgent violence.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the administration has allocated about $361-billion for military operations, reconstruction and other programs in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $50-billion for 2006 in legislation working its way through Congress, the Congressional Research Service report said. The service is one of Congress' investigative arms.

That report also identified gaps in the Pentagon's accounting of war costs, including up to $14-billion in funds that may have been transferred from peacetime accounts. It recommended that Congress require more detailed reporting from the Defense Department on how the money is spent.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Residents of one of Baghdad's most insurgent-hit neighborhoods received copies of Iraq's draft constitution Thursday, though some refused to take it and some shopkeepers balked at passing it out, fearing reprisals by militants determined to wreck the Oct. 15 referendum.

Insurgents continued their wave of violence with attacks in and around the capital, including the suicide bombing of a minibus, that killed at least 20 Iraqis and an American soldier.

Despite the bloodshed, Iraqis in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora had their first look at the document they will vote on in nine days, though distribution of the U.N.-printed blue booklets got off to a slow start elsewhere.

In Thursday's deadliest assault, a suicide bomber boarded a minibus packed with 14 passengers - officers going to the police academy and students and workers headed home to the Shiite district of Sadr City.

The bomber set off his explosives belt as the bus passed a police patrol. At least nine people were killed and nine wounded, said Police Capt. Abbas Ali.

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Iran on Thursday not to meddle in Iraq after declaring that explosive devices that have killed U.S.-led troops were similar to those used by the Iranian-linked militant group Hezbollah.

Speaking at a press conference with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, Blair said new explosive devices used "not just against British troops but elsewhere in Iraq ... lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah," the Lebanese group backed by both Syria and Iran.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the same devices had been used against U.S. forces.

In Beirut, Hezbollah accused Blair of "lies." Iran's ambassador in London, Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, said the charges "cannot be supported by either any political analyst or any concrete evidence."

U.S. officials have said in the past that they suspect Iran is the source for armor-piercing mine technology used by Hezbollah. But analysts say munitions used in Iraq are hard to trace and that charges they are supplied by Iran could be politically motivated.

Blair linked the issue to the diplomatic confrontation between Tehran and Western nations over Iran's nuclear program. He said Britain would not "be subject to any intimidation."

[Last modified October 7, 2005, 01:51:07]