Iraq military operation to cost more than expected

A top Pentagon official said Wednesday the Iraqi military operation ''is going to cost us more money'' than anticipated and the White House suggested it will seek additional funds before the end of this election year.

''They haven't asked for one single penny for next year for Afghanistan and Iraq,'' said Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. ''Give me a break. Give me a break!''

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said he smelled election-year politics.

''The administration would be well served here to come forward now, be honest about this, because the continuity and the confidence in this policy is going to be required to sustain it,'' Hagel said. ''And that means be honest with the Congress, be honest with the American people.

''Every ground squirrel in this country knows that it's going to be $50 billion to $75 billion in additional money required to sustain us in Iraq for this year,'' Hagel said.

White House budget director Joshua Bolten said earlier this year that the administration will eventually need more money beyond the $87 billion Congress authorized for this budget year, which ends Sept. 30. But Bolten said the administration would not request it this year, meaning such a multibillion-dollar appeal would come after the November election.

Biden and Hagel, another senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also raised the possibility that compulsory military service might be necessary to relieve pressure on U.S. troops stretched around the globe.

The nation is engaged ''in a generational war here against terrorism,'' Hagel said. ''It's going to require resources.''

''Should we continue to burden the middle class who represents most all of our soldiers, and the lower-middle class?'' Hagel said. ''Should we burden them with the fighting and the dying if in fact this is a generational probably 25-year war?''

''I am not proposing a draft, but I think some kind of mandatory service for this country for all our citizens, for the privileged, the rich, all those who have a lot, should be something we take seriously here,'' Hagel said.