Reply #10: THAT is what I want to know!

[Carla in Ca]

Bolton is another "Heck of a job" crony that needs to be rewarded, right? His budget analysis for Iraq was so right on...NOT!

A snippet from <http://www.dod.mil/speeches/2003/sp20030729-depsecdef0385.html>

On Iraq
Testimony as Delivered by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Director, Office of Management and Budget, Joshua Bolten, and Acting Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, General John Keane , Tuesday, July 29, 2003.


SEN. BIDEN: I want to try to ask a couple very specific questions, and if you could help me by giving as quick an answer as you could.

Mr. Bolten, what are your working assumptions, on the cost side, for the rest of '03 and for '04 for Iraq?

MR. BOLTEN: For the rest of '03, Senator Biden, the -- on the cost side, our working assumptions are those that Ambassador Bremer has brought back to us. He's anticipating expenditures in the range for the total of '03 of about 7.3 billion (dollars). And what that --

SEN. BIDEN: How much will you be requesting for the remainder of the year, if any, from the United States Congress to fund that need?

MR. BOLTEN: We don't anticipate requesting anything additional for the balance of this year.

SEN. BIDEN: What do you anticipate for '04?

MR. BOLTEN: I don't know the answer to that. Ambassador Bremer is -- has laid out a reasonably specific budget for the balance of '03, and I think he had an opportunity to discuss that with you. But even that was relatively crude, because of -- they're just getting a handle on so many of the variables that are in play right now.

SEN. BIDEN: Do you anticipate we'll be continuing to spend $4 billion a month for our troops in Iraq, for '04?

MR. BOLTEN: That's roughly what we're spending now. Looking out over the immediate term, we don't have any reason to expect a dramatic change in that number, but I wouldn't want to predict beyond the next couple of months, because the situation is so variable.

SEN. BIDEN: Don't you have to -- I mean, we're talking about the '04 budget. We're going to be voting on that in the next couple months. What the devil are you going to ask us for?

MR. BOLTEN: Well, the -- in the '04 budget -- and Senator, we've -- as you know, we've been very explicit about it -- we have not included the incremental costs of our fighting forces in Iraq, nor the costs of reconstruction. So you --

SEN. BIDEN: Why?

MR. BOLTEN: Simply because we don't know what they will be. We will --

SEN. BIDEN: Oh, come on now! Does anybody here at the table think we're going to be down below 100,000 forces in the next calendar year? Raise your hand, any one of you. You know it's going to be more than that. See, you know at least it's going to be $2-1/2 billion a month. Give me a break, will you? When are you guys starting to be honest with us? Come on! I mean, this is ridiculous. You're not even --

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