Prometheus 6

According to the Pentagon's current ratio of combat-to-support personnel in Iraq, the surge would require up to 28,000 additional troops to provide security, fuel, food, transportation, and other necessities to support the additional combat troops -- bringing the total troop increase to 48,000 troops, the CBO concluded. If a smaller proportion were used, as the Pentagon has suggested, the surge would require about 15,000 support personnel, increasing the surge to about 35,000 troops, it said.

Support needs could double 'surge' forces
Report pegs cost at up to $27b
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  February 2, 2007

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more combat troops to Iraq might require as many as 28,000 additional troops to provide critical support during the deployment, making the "surge" in US military forces far larger than previously predicted, a government assessment concluded yesterday.

The assessment from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the addition of almost 50,000 more troops could cost up to $27 billion to sustain over the next year -- depending on the size of the force and duration of the deployment. That would be more than three times the largest estimate of the troop expansion's cost provided by the Bush administration.

The report arrived as the Army general who just relinquished the top command in Iraq told a Senate panel that he had recommended that less than half of the 21,500 combat troops be added.

"I did not want to bring one more American soldier into Iraq than was necessary to accomplish the mission," said Army General George Casey , who has been nominated to serve as the Army chief of staff, explaining to the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday why he recommended that the administration send only two additional brigades rather than the five ordered by Bush.

Bush announced last month that he was dispatching the additional Army and Marine Corps personnel and said it would cost no more than $7 billion this year.

But the Congressional Budget Office's report, the first independent government assessment of what the increase might cost, concluded yesterday that the US commitment is likely to be substantially larger than previously anticipated.

According to the Pentagon's current ratio of combat-to-support personnel in Iraq, the surge would require up to 28,000 additional troops to provide security, fuel, food, transportation, and other necessities to support the additional combat troops -- bringing the total troop increase to 48,000 troops, the CBO concluded. If a smaller proportion were used, as the Pentagon has suggested, the surge would require about 15,000 support personnel, increasing the surge to about 35,000 troops, it said.

"Even if the additional brigades required fewer support units than historical practice suggests, those units would still represent a significant additional number of military personnel," said the five-page memorandum by CBO director Peter R. Orszag that was requested by three leading House Democrats.