Iraq costs raise GOP worries

By Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin
THE WASHINGTON POST

Sept. 26 — A new curriculum for training an Iraqi army for $164 million. Five hundred experts, at $200,000 each, to investigate crimes against humanity. A witness protection program for $200,000 per Iraqi participant. A computer study for the Iraqi postal service: $54 million.

SUCH NUMBERS, buried in President Bush’s $20.3 billion request for Iraq’s reconstruction, have made some congressional Republicans nervous, even furious. Although the GOP leadership has tried to unite publicly around its president, cracks are beginning to show.

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