Staggering costs of rebuilding Iraq will only grow

The News Tribune

Slowly but surely, the real economic and human costs of the U.S. campaign to rebuild Iraq are finally coming into clearer focus. And the emerging picture isn't pretty at all.

President Bush told a national audience Sunday he will ask Congress for $87 billion more to pay for U.S. efforts in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, Afghanistan, during the upcoming fiscal year. Bush also said he will ask the United Nations to play a broader role in stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq.

The sheer size of the budget request sent many Americans into sticker shock. It comes at a time when the burgeoning federal deficit - fueled by the Bush administration's hugely imprudent tax-cut package - is rapidly approaching $500 billion and reducing the ability of Congress to adequately fund health, education and other important programs.

Given the open-ended U.S. commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan, the final price tag for stabilizing both countries will only grow.

The Bush administration's new request for U.N. assistance reflects the collision of the administration's unfounded pre-war optimism and lack of adequate postwar planning with Iraq's violent on-the-ground reality. Restoring order and rebuilding Iraq are tasks too daunting for the United States to pull off alone.

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