Don’t Be So Polite About Money

The General Accounting Office, Congress’ analytical arm, projects this year’s cost of Operation Desert Shield at $30 billion, as well as billions more for debt forgiveness to Egypt. Those numbers assume that no shot will be fired. If there is a war against Iraq, the bill could soar $1 billion to $2 billion a day . Next month the Bush Administration is expected to seek a $30-billion budget supplement to finance Desert Shield. That means yet more debt, more borrowing, more need to sell Treasury bonds to foreign investors.

If the Administration has a problem with the GAO’s numbers, it isn’t saying so. Indeed, lately it has chosen to say little about Desert Shield’s costs. Congress is understandably frustrated about this evasiveness. As the current debate over a war-making resolution shows, Congress is even more agitated by the evidence that some of America’s closest allies--as well as those Persian Gulf countries that most benefit from the security Desert Shield provides--are bearing too little of the financial burden. Japan, which gets about 65% of its oil from the gulf, is among those singled out. So is Saudi Arabia, which is reaping huge profits from higher oil prices and increased production.

The Administration says the Saudis have pledged to pay 40 to 50% of the costs of the military buildup. But without a dollar figure there’s no way for Congress to know how that compares with the Saudis’ windfall oil profits. The best that can be figured out overall is that the Administration has foreign pledges for between $9 billion and $13 billion for this year’s Desert Shield costs. That is wholly inadequate, not least given the disproportionate share of U.S. military personnel committed to the coalition--and the disproportionate share of casualties that could result.

There is not much evidence that the Administration is leaning hard on those who are best able to contribute more to Desert Shield’s costs. Congressional irritation over the lack of burden-sharing could explode at some point and threaten U.S. relations with a number of countries. Washington has every right to demand more reasonable contributions from its allies. It’s a puzzle why the Administration is so slow to do so.