Defense Tech reports on new estimates by the Congressional Budget Office on the actual number of troops that will be deployed to tamp down the violence in Iraq. According to the document, the addition of 20,000 combat troops will require a corresponding influx of approximately 28,000 support troops. That number would reflect the same proportion of combat troops to support troops that currently exists in Iraq. The CBO also offers an alternate scenario in which the number of support troops might be as few as 15,000, and, in fact, states that such a number would be “both possible and desirable.” The document does not give any indication of which number the president or his commanders would prefer. The upshot: the surge will cost significantly more than the $5.6 billion the White House first estimated. CBO puts the number somewhere between $20 billion and $27 billion if the surge were to last for a full 12 moths. The debate surrounding the precise number of troops to be deployed as part of the surge has consistently referred to the president’s plan as involving 20,000 “combat troops.” Presumably close observers were aware that those troops would require a significant number of support personnel to affect their mission.
