By Andrew Clark
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Occupying and rebuilding Iraq (news - web sites) could cost American taxpayers $179 billion under even a best-case scenario and that could rise to more than $400 billion if U.S. troops have to stay in the country for years to come, Democratic budget analysts forecast on Tuesday.
The report, by the Democratic staff of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, comes as Congress debates President Bush (news - web sites)'s request for another $87 billion to fund military operations and reconstruction in Iraq.
With lawmakers eager to show their support for U.S. troops under fire in Iraq, the package is expected to win relatively swift approval, even though it will push an already-record federal budget deficit over $500 billion next year.
But Democrats have also seized on the chance to contrast the rising cost of U.S. commitments abroad with Bush's insistence on holding down spending for domestic priorities like health care, education and homeland security.
"It's easy to say, as the president said: 'We will spend whatever it takes.' But it is fair to ask how much that is likely to be," said South Carolina Rep. John Spratt, the Budget Committee's top Democrat.
"We need at a minimum to recognize the real costs of our operations in Iraq so the president and the Congress can work out budgets that accommodate that cost," he said.
Including the latest funding request, the conflict in Iraq would cost $179 billion even if no new money is needed after the end of 2004, the report estimates. But if U.S. troops remain in the country for a longer period, even at steadily declining levels, that could mount substantially.
The total cost of occupation and reconstruction could rise to $238 billion by 2006, $309 billion by 2008 and $418 billion by 2010, the report says.
The estimates all include the full 10-year cost of increased interest payments on a higher national debt.
With some polls showing public unease over the scale of the possible U.S. commitment to a postwar Iraq, administration officials have sought to link the effort to the Marshall plan that created modern Europe from the rubble of World War II.
Bush on Tuesday went to the United Nations (news - web sites) to try to convince it to share some of the burden, though it remains unclear how much other countries will be willing to contribute to deal with the aftermath of a war that many of them opposed.