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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (215066)	1/16/2005 4:05:12 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1573947

War's 'hidden cost' called heavy Billions eyed to replenish forces By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff \| January 14, 2005 WASHINGTON -- A forthcoming request for additional funds to continue waging war in Iraq will not begin to address the "hidden cost" of the conflict, according to Pentagon officials and other government authorities who say that tens of billions of dollars more will eventually be needed to repair or replace heavily used equipment and to compensate for the wear and tear on members of the armed services. The Pentagon next month plans to ask Congress for up to $100 billion in supplemental funds to pay for the ongoing combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the total budgeted so far to well over $200 billion. But military officers say the administration's estimates do not include the investment that will be necessary to fix what they say they fear is becoming a broken ground force. "We're going to be paying for this war for years to come," Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said by telephone yesterday from the Middle East, where he has been touring US military bases in Iraq. "We are not preparing for much of the cost." If the war were to end today, according to a preliminary estimate by the Congressional Budget Office that was described by officials who have been briefed on it, the Army would still need at least $20 billion more than budgeted over the next three years just to be at the same level of preparedness as before the war. All four branches of the military recently completed a "stress study" ordered a year ago by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to determine the impact the war is having on equipment. "What they found was an amazing toll on combat vehicles, generators, just about everything," said a defense analyst involved in the study. "At some point it doesn't make sense to overhaul the equipment, you have to replace it." The forthcoming Iraq supplemental request is expected to include several billion dollars to replace lost and damaged equipment and pay for maintenance in Pentagon equipment depots, according to a Pentagon official who spoke on condition that he not be identified. However, that money will largely cover current expenses, not the long-term costs specialists say will burden the federal budget for years to come. The Army and Marine Corps, and a growing number of National Guard and Reserve units, are burning through trucks and armored vehicles at rates between five and 10 times the peacetime average, according to a confidential briefing prepared by budget analysts and Army officials. As a result, tanks, trucks, aircraft, and other equipment are aging much more quickly than anticipated. By some estimates, up to 40 percent of certain classes of ground equipment will have to be overhauled or replaced. Continued... 1 2 Next boston.com