US President George W. Bush plans to ask the US Congress on Monday for additional funding of about US$80 billion for the war against Iraq currently underway, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The figure, which has ranged between 70 to 90 billion dollars in last-minute deliberation, includes about 60 billion dollars forcombat and the first months of reconstruction in Iraq, with the rest going to foreign aid, homeland security and humanitarian relief, the paper quoted senior US officials as saying.
For weeks, White House officials refused to provide a cost estimate for the war in Iraq, saying they could not account for the various war scenarios.
However, White House officials said President Bush will tell US congressional leaders he will need the additional funding of about 80 billion dollars for the war in Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2003)
