Cord Byrd: “No one likes to talk about putting a price tag on national security, but these costs simply cannot be ignored in light…”

“No one likes to talk about putting a price tag on national security, but these costs simply cannot be ignored in light of our current sagging economy and given a projected budget deficit of $307 billion for the fiscal year 2004. Remember--remember, Mr. President--this Government is going to have to borrow the money to finance this war. The total price of a war in Iraq could easily add up to hundreds of billions of dollars, even a trillion or more, overwhelming a Federal budget that is already sliding into deep deficits and warping the U.S. economy and impacting the economies of other nations for years to come. And, unlike the gulf war in 1991, many of our allies are unlikely to want to help much in defraying these costs. Right now, the administration is trying to coax other nations to join the 'coalition of the willing' by paying them, not by asking them to help us pay for the war. A 'coalition of the willing,' or a COW for short. It appears to me that the U.S. is the 'cow'--the cash cow in this instance. We are the ones who are being milked.”