Rumsfeld Says More Money Needed to Fund Afghan, Iraq Missions

US Department of Defense, WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told members of Congress February 16 that the administration would submit a same-day request for $65.3 billion dollars in supplemental funding to support the ongoing war against terrorism. 
 
Rumsfeld said that most of the new money is needed to finance military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including training and equipping security forces in both countries; repairing or replacing the equipment experiencing heavy use by the U.S. military; and developing technologies to defeat the deadly, improvised bombs that have killed and maimed civilians and troops in the Middle East and South Asia. 
 
Rumsfeld told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee that the cost of fuel, meeting payroll expenses, inflation and buying new equipment all contribute to the need for supplemental funds. Military operations in Iraq are costing the United States around $5.9 billion a month and another $1.9 billion for Afghanistan, he said. But, he said, the money being spent to establish Iraqi and Afghan security forces is