Bush seeks $3.2 billion for extra Iraq forces (Deb Riechmann)

  President Bush asked Congress Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for at least 4,000 extra combat support troops and military police forces that commanders told the president they need in Iraq.

  DEB RIECHMANN -- Associated Press

  March 10, 2007 -- MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- President Bush asked Congress Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for at least 4,000 extra combat support troops and military police forces that commanders told the president they need in Iraq.

  The extra troops are in addition to the 21,500-troop buildup Bush announced in January. The budget revisions come as many lawmakers opposed to the buildup are debating funding for the war.

  Bush is proposing to cancel $3.2 billion in low-priority defense items within his fiscal 2007 supplemental budget request to offset the need for these extra forces.

  Cutting the programs, he said, would not require increasing the overall $93.4 billion in additional defense money he's already requested to finance this year's war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  "This revised request would better align resources based on the assessment of military commanders to achieve the goal of establishing Iraq and Afghanistan as democratic and secure nations that are free of terrorism," Bush wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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