No Hiding When the Big Bill Comes : But how to share the costs when no one knows what they are

A big Persian Gulf bill as vast as the Arabian peninsula is coming--everyone knows that. What no one knows is who is going to pick it up.

The costs of Operation Desert Storm are rising hour by hour, not only in human lives but in dollars and cents. It takes billions and billions of dollars to maintain the unprecedented number of U.S. troops and other forces in the Persian Gulf.

But in the “new world order,” where not all countries can answer the call to arms, financial burden-sharing opens uncharted territory. Never before has such a multinational coalition been stitched together with U.N. resolutions, arms--and money.

Allied pledges of cash and in-kind contributions to date from Japan, Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and South Korea totaled about $8 billion at the end of December.

But what’s needed now, as things heat up over there, could be as much as $2 billion a day.

But what is fair to ask of the allies?

The Administration wants to avoid the embarrassing tin-cup diplomacy of past months. But the gulf effort clearly needs more money. Even though both Japan and Germany have responded with commitments to increase their current financial pledges, the two have been roundly criticized for financial foot-dragging. Their roles have been largely confined to bankrolling because of constitutional military constraints. Even then, leaders in both countries must deal with internal political controversies over the level of support and how it should be financed.

Complicating the process is the Administration’s own reticence to put dollar estimates on the war. Keeping mum on projected costs--Administration officials boycotted a House Budget Committee hearing earlier this month on gulf financing--makes it difficult for the allies to assess costs and make a case to their respective governments.

U.S. policy makers are unsettled as well, so Reps. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation that would require the Bush Administration to report monthly on the overall cost of the war and the contributions from allies. This would keep the U.S. public informed and keep the heat on any allies not doing their share.

Charting such a course for financial burden sharing is unusual and perhaps diplomatically risky. But this allied effort in the gulf is itself unprecedented. The Panetta-Schumer measure is a step worth taking.