Something I read here several times recently: That it was obvious that the WH spin of 20,000 combat troops was disingenuous as the support staff needed for the "surge" far exceeded the combat troops ..... It seems now that the WH realizes too and have gone public with it.
After he'd left for Montevideo, Bush released a rejigged request for funds to Nancy Pelosi with an accompanying note:
"This revised request would better align resources based on the assessment of military commanders to achieve the goal of establishing Iraq and Afghanistan as democratic and secure nations that are free of terrorism,"
Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/...
U.S. military commanders in Iraq have said in recent days that the number of additional U.S. troops needed to carry out Bush's security plan for Iraq could approach 30,000, taking into account units needed to support 21,500 extra combat troops announced in January.
No worries though, it won't cost any more according to Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council:
He said about $3 billion in lower priority items will be subtracted from the original proposal made in February to offset the new request.
Yes, it won't cost any more, we already rounded it up to a nice $100 billion with the "extras" included and no one will notice the extra 30,000 troops, military police and support staff.
Apologies for the length of diary, the Reuters article reports it succinctly, give it a browse, it's under the radar Saturday.