Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Box-By-The-Riviera™ who wrote (37982)	9/8/2003 8:16:16 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Only in America: Bush seeks $87bn for war on terror By Financial Times reporters Published: September 7 2003 20:41 \| Last Updated: September 8 2003 2:35 President George W. Bush - in his first address to the nation since announcing the start of the Iraq war - sought to quell growing criticism over his administration's handling of Iraq and outlined how much more money he would be seeking to fund the US's military operations abroad. In a televised address to the nation, Mr Bush said that the US would remain engaged in Iraq, saying "we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory on the war on terror."(Click here to read the full text of the speech). To finance the military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan Mr Bush said he would ask Congress for a supplemental budget of $87bn for 2004. Recent estimates had ranged between $60bn and $80bn. Mr Bush also called for broader international support to shoulder the burden. Other members of the United Nations "now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation," he said. Mr Bush's speech was the administration's attempt to seize back the initiative and counter sliding poll ratings and rising criticism from Democrats over its handling of postwar Iraq. In particular the Bush administration is being faulted for its failure to secure help in peacekeeping and reconstruction from other countries. The US is expected to step up the diplomatic pressure at the United Nations this week for a new Security Council resolution that would strengthen the status of the interim administration in Iraq, while leaving security and the political process in US hands. But Colin Powell, US secretary of state, insisted that the lead role must continue to be played by the US. "To think that somehow you can suddenly bring in the UN and say 'it is all yours' and expect them to be able to do the job under the current set of circumstances is not appropriate." US insistence on this will make it difficult for its European and other allies, including India and Turkey, to commit troops to the Iraq stabilisation force. They have all insisted that military and political control should be placed under UN supervision as much as possible so they would not be perceived as occupiers. Mr Powell said that he expected no more than 10,000-15,000 additional troops from other countries to supplement the current US force of around 150,000. Foreign ministers of European Union and EU candidate states, meeting in Italy at the weekend, avoided the bitter recriminations traded until recently between Britain and France, leaders of the pro- and anti-Iraq war camps in Europe. Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary, said he was optimistic an agreement would be reached at the UN, despite determination among many of his counterparts to achieve what one diplomat termed "maximum internationalisation of Iraq . . . putting political control under the UN". In practical terms, that would mean making Paul Bremer, head of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, answerable to the UN. "Bush will not get European support if he does not do that," said an east European diplomat. With the UK expected on Monday to announce reinforcement of its 10,000-strong contingent in Iraq in the face of apparently deteriorating security, Mr Powell admitted Baghdad seemed to have become a magnet for terrorists from outside the country. "We are concerned about the fact that some al-Qaeda elements and terrorists may be heading towards Iraq," he said. But the US, other coalition forces and increasingly, Iraq's own security forces, would deal with them there. By Guy Dinmore and Alan Beattie in Washington and Judy Dempsey in Riva del Garda, Italy