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WASHINGTON, Sept 21: The Pentagon has begun tapping its 25 billion dollars emergency fund for the Iraq invasion to prepare for a major troop rotation and intense fighting this fall , administration officials said on Tuesday , despite the White House's initial insistence that it had enough money.
The Pentagon has already used more than two billion dollars from what was dubbed its "contingency reserve" fund. The money is being used to ramp up production of armoured Humvees to support the troop rotation, as well as to buy body armour and bolster fuel supplies, the officials said.
The decision to use the 25 billion dollars in Iraq reserves underscores growing concern within the administration about the rise in attacks on American soldiers in Iraq.
White House officials had initially insisted the Pentagon had "very ample resources" and would not need additional funding until well after the November election. The decision also follows last week's announcement that President George Bush planned to divert nearly 3.5 billion dollars from Iraqi water, power and other reconstruction projects in a bid to improve security.
"As we've always said, our troops in the field will have what they need, when they need it," said Chad Kolton, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"In this case, making some of those resources available now ensures that our troops will have the equipment they need going into the fall (rotation)," Mr Kolton added.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry accused Mr Bush this week of hiding plans to call up more members of the part-time National Guard and Reserve after the election.
The Bush campaign called Kerry's assertion "false and ridiculous", and administration officials said the Pentagon decided to tap into the reserve fund because resources were running low with the fiscal year near its Sept 30 end.
ENOUGH FUNDING: Congressional aides and defence analysts said the use of the reserve funds could be an early sign that the Pentagon will run out of money sooner than the White House had expected.
Even before the recent flare-up in attacks, US military operations in Iraq cost about 4.4 billion dollars per month, the Pentagon said. The United States has spent 120 billion dollars so far in Iraq, not including the 25 billion dollars in contingency fund. Officials said the White House could seek another 50 billion dollars early next year.
But congressional aides and analysts say the size of that package would grow substantially if fighting intensifies, as expected, before Iraqi elections scheduled for January. "I think it's apparent we're going to need the upper end of the estimates rather than the lower end," said John Pike, a defence analyst with GlobalSecurity.org.
Critics accused Mr Bush of hiding the occupation's true cost. Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said tapping into emergency reserves was "another example of this administration saying one thing and doing another".
Before the invasion, then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels predicted Iraq would be "an affordable endeavour", and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz even assured Congress: "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."
Until early May, Mr Bush had refused to acknowledge that any additional money would be needed for Iraq until after the November presidential election. But as costs rose and pressure mounted from military leaders for additional resources, Mr Bush asked for the $25 billion.
Still, the White House described the money as a "contingency reserve" and an "insurance policy," and said it might never be tapped. "This administration is riddled with flip-flops," Mr Conrad said, echoing a charge Mr Bush uses against Kerry. -Reuters
