WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican lawmakers on Wednesday demanded the retraction of a Democratic party report which warned that the costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars could reach 3.5 trillion dollars.
They warned the survey by Democratic staffers on Congress's Joint Economic Committee (JEC) was riddled with errors and should not be allowed to stand.
"In the rush to score political points, apparently no one bothered to fact check the report," said Senator Sam Brownback and Representative Jim Saxton, top Republicans on the committee, in a statement.
"When erroneous information is injected into the public domain, those responsible are obligated to publicly withdraw this information.
"We recommend that the Democrats attach a warning label to their reports stating the following: 'This politically motivated report may contain erroneous information hazardous to informed decision-making.'"
The two lawmakers said that their public complaints on Tuesday had already prompted Democrats to correct aspects of the report online.
The report by Democratic staffers on Congress's Joint Economic Committee (JEC) said war costs would hit 1.6 trillion dollars by the end of next year, doubling the 804 billion dollars spent or requested by the administration.
Hidden outlays would also inflate the price to the 3.5 trillion dollar mark by 2017, they warned, basing the figure on the cost of treating wounded veterans, the Iraq war's impact on oil prices and other economic factors.
The row over the cost of the war came as the House of Representatives was poised to debate a new attempt by Democrats to tie President George W. Bush's demands for more funding to Iraq operations to troop withdrawal timetables.
The proposal would require the withdrawal or redeployment of most troops in Iraq to begin shortly and be completed by mid-December of next year.
Bush has defeated every attempt by Democrats to change his war strategy, bolstered by a firewall of Republican support in the US Senate.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
