War spending up in the air — way up

WASHINGTON — President Bush's 2009 budget request includes $588.3 billion for the Pentagon, a sum that does not include all the money that will be needed to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the fiscal year starting in October.

The proposed Pentagon budget represents a 7.5 percent increase in funding from what was allocated in the current budget. Bush's request includes $70 billion for the wars in 2009, but a further funding request will likely come sometime after Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, reports to Congress this spring on how he believes the U.S. military should move forward in Iraq.

If approved by Congress, the $588.3 billion total, adjusted for inflation, would mark the largest defense spending budget since World War II.

For all of the 2009 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, the Bush administration said it planned to spend $651.2 billion. Pentagon officials noted that the new defense budget would represent about 4 percent of the gross domestic product, which they said is a relatively small piece of the national economy considering the military is fighting two wars.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates noted that that is far less than defense spending of yesteryear, when the U.S. spent 14 percent of its GDP during the Korean War and 9 percent during its engagement in Vietnam.

The White House said it would request more for 2009 "once the specific needs of our troops are better known."

Bush appears to be waiting to hear Petraeus' recommendation on whether it is feasible to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the five brigades that are scheduled to return home this summer without being replaced.

If the current rate of war spending is a guide, the additional request for 2009 is likely to exceed $100 billion.

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of House Armed Services Committee, criticized Bush for not budgeting the entire costs of the wars in 2009.

"Can you imagine President Truman passing the buck on the budget to Gen. MacArthur during the Korean conflict?" Skelton said.

If approved, the Defense request would include about $21 billion to increase the size of the Marines and Army.

The budget proposal earmarks $750 million to help other countries improve their ability to fight terrorists — "recognizing that threats to U.S. security exist beyond the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to a Pentagon statement obtained by The Associated Press. The statement did not mention specific countries that would receive such aid.

The president's budget also proposes to spend $389 million to establish a new command focusing on U.S. interests in Africa. The command is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany and is headed by Army Gen. William Ward.

The budget request would also fund a number of train-and-equip programs worldwide, to the tune of $500 million.

The Pentagon increased its request for missile defense spending by about a half-billion dollars for a total of $10.6 billion, a program that could include Boeing, Bloomberg News reported.

Spending on special operations forces, such as the Army's Green Berets and the Navy's SEALs, would total $5.7 billion.

Members of the military would get a 3.4 percent pay raise, and the defense civilian work force would see its pay grow by 2.9 percent.

Compiled from Chicago Tribune, The Associated Press and The Christian Science Monitor reports.