Pentagon reluctantly gives a budget number

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the full 2009 defense budget would total about $685 billion, $100 billion more than the official proposal so far.

The figure includes about $170 billion for the wars in the Middle East, but it's not the final word.

"I have no confidence in that figure," Gates said. "A realistic and meaningful estimate requires answers to questions we don't yet know."

Gates told U.S. senators Wednesday he didn't want to speculate on the amount of money needed in 2009 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he didn't feel ready, didn't trust the figures and would only give an estimate if asked directly.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked directly -- the first question of the day in a series of defense budget hearings on Capitol Hill.

By law, the 2009 defense budget already should have been submitted in full, but defense officials have said they likely won't be ready to commit to a number until spring. Gates said his department wants more analysis from commanders before making a decision.

"It makes it very difficult to have anything here that we can call a budget," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who said his staff has started referring to the budget as the "fudge-it."

Democrats and Republicans said they were frustrated that the budget process was backed up but said they respected the need for more information.

Several factors contribute to uncertainty about how much the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost, according to Pentagon officials.

-- Defense officials still want to know how much money the Pentagon will receive for this year. The White House asked for $189.3 billion to run the war on terror in 2008, but Congress has approved just $86.8 billion so far.

-- The country is in the middle of negotiating with the Iraqi government to come up with a set of ground rules for the U.S. presence in Iraq.

-- Commanders still haven't announced a final decision about how fast the country should bring some troops home from Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, has said that after the armed forces return to pre-surge troop levels, the country should wait to see how it goes before choosing how to proceed.

-- The budget also depends on how much allies contribute to the wars. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said NATO allies are not living up to their obligations in Afghanistan, a subject he plans to "nag" allies about at conferences this week. "It puts a cloud over the future of the alliance," he said.

-- On Nov. 4 the United States will elect a new president, and no one can be sure what his or her view on the military will be. For instance, the budget leaves it for the next president to decide whether to end programs such as the purchase of F-22 Raptor stealth fighter planes.

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Elizabeth Gibson, Medill News Service