WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (AFP) - President George W. Bush urged Congress Tuesday to boost funding for Iraq and Afghanistan after talking with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi about his country's looming elections.
A US official told AFP privately the White House will seek 80 billion dollars in supplementary funding mainly for Iraq and Afghanistan; of the total, 75 billion would be earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to confirm or deny the precise amount of the spending request.
"When we decided to protect America from a gathering threat by removing Saddam Hussein from power, I made two fundamental pledges: First, our troops will have whatever they need to protect themselves and complete their mission; and second, the United States will stand with the Iraqi people and against the terrorists trying desperately to block democracy and the advance of human rights," Bush said in a statement.
"This supplemental budget request will fulfill these important pledges and again makes clear to terrorists that our resolve is firm and we will complete our mission," the US president said.
The additional funds would include assistance for the Palestinians but not aid for tsunami victims in south Asia, the official who spoke privately added.
"Most of these funds will support American troops on the ground by continuing to provide them with the equipment and other supplies they need.
"The request also provides for the continued pursuit of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist elements in Afghanistan and elsewhere, while supporting the great progress Afghanistan has made toward joining the community of free nations," Bush added.
"And resources are included to accelerate efforts to train and equip Iraqi and Afghan forces, so they can assume greater responsibility for their own security."
In a telephone conversation, Bush and Allawi focused on voting set for January 30 in Iraq, and "talked about how the elections will be a historic moment for the Iraqi people," said McClellan.
The spokesman downplayed the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate that the US government deficit will be 368 billion dollars in the current fiscal year, excluding costs for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush has a plan to halve the deficit in five years and "we are on track to meet it," said McClellan, who reminded reporters that Bush was expected to unveil his budget on February 7.
McClellan's comments came as The Washington Post reported that the US Army expects to maintain its current level of 120,000 troops in Iraq for at least two more years, citing the army's top operations officer.
"We're making the assumption that the level of effort is going to continue," Lieutenant General James Lovelace was quoted as saying.
That suggested that the army was not counting on newly trained Iraqi security forces -- who Bush says will eventually replace US-led troops -- to enable a reduction in US force levels soon.
Lovelace said that the levels could increase or decrease depending on security conditions and other factors, but that the assumption amounted to "the most probable case."
He said the army planned to continue rotating active-duty units in and out of Iraq in year-long deployments and is looking for ways to dip even deeper into reserve forces, according to the Post.
The army accounts for the bulk of the 150,000 US troops now in Iraq, which have been beefed up in recent weeks amid intensifying violence ahead of the January 30 elections.
01/25/2005 20:33 GMT - AFP