Bush seeks $80b for military operations

The money -- which the White House acknowledged would push the federal deficit to a record $427 billion -- will be used in part to repair and replace equipment for US troops and to equip three new Army brigades.

Bush said the extra money would accelerate the training of Iraqi forces "so they can assume greater responsibility for their own security." The cash shows "our resolve is firm," he said after insurgents declared all-out war on the Iraqi elections.

The $80 billion request will push funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to a record $105 billion for fiscal year 2005 alone, including $25 billion in emergency spending already approved. The new money will supplement the Pentagon budget, which already totals more than $400 billion.

Military operation in Iraq alone already cost more than $1 billion a week.

The nearly $300 billion total is almost half what the United States spent for the entire Vietnam War, in 2005 dollars.

The request will be submitted to Congress early next month, and is expected to be approved despite lawmakers' concerns about record federal budget deficits and complaints that Bush and his top advisers initially underestimated the costs.

Before the invasion, then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels predicted Iraq would be "an affordable endeavor," and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz assured Congress: "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."

When then-White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey estimated Iraq costs at $100 billion to $200 billion, he was derided by administration colleagues and later lost his job.