Reply #6: can we afford THIS?

[G_j]

>>>> www.whereisthemoney.org


http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059479719798

US / September 11 - Two Years On
Mystery shrouds Pentagon's extra funds

By Peter Spiegel in London and Marianne Brun-Rovet in Washington
Published: September 10 2003 18:19 | Last Updated: September 10 2003 18:19

In detailing its request for $87bn (?77bn, £55bn) to fund the "war on terrorism" for the forthcoming year, the White House budget office said this week that a vast majority of those funds - $51bn - would go directly to military operations in Iraq.

It noted that $800m of that spending would go to coalition members who cannot afford to deploy their own troops. An additional $300m would go to new life-saving body armour; and $140m to heavily armoured Humvees to protect its soldiers.
But apart from those few details, the
Bush administration has been tight-lipped about where the huge sums - which come on top of $62bn appropriated for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in April - are going. Because Iraq military efforts are being funded outside the normal appropriations process, in so-called "supplemental" or emergency spending bills, the funding does not go through the same rigorous congressional oversight to which normal Pentagon spending is subject annually.

As a result, the spending is difficult to track, leading to concerns among some members of Congress, and experts in Pentagon budgeting, about the Defence Department's accountability.
...more..