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The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole says cost of new war uncertain

October 5, 2014
News Stories

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

Rep. Tom Cole, the Moore Republican who helps set U.S. military spending, says there’s no way of knowing how much it will cost to destroy the Islamic State and that money isn’t the primary concern now.

“I think you have to decide that this isn’t a matter of dollars and cents, it’s a matter of how great the risk is,” Cole said in an interview.

“And look, these people are busy establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East. This is like watching al Qaeda working with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s.”

Cole, whose district includes Tinker Air Force Base and the Army post Fort Sill, sits on the House subcommittee that sets defense spending. Before leaving last month for weeks of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 4 elections, lawmakers approved a short-term spending bill that authorizes funding and training for Syrian rebels but contains no specific amount.

That authorization lasts until mid-December, and Cole said the Pentagon easily could get by until then by shifting funds around in accounts.

President Barack Obama and military leaders have said destroying the Islamic State will take years, and Cole said the cost to U.S. taxpayers will depend on the administration’s overall strategy and the contribution from other countries.

“I don’t think FDR could have told you how much it was going to cost upfront to beat the Germans,’’ Cole said, referring to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and World War II.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, “Between September 2001 and June 2014, lawmakers appropriated about $1.6 trillion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other war-related activities. Of that amount, about $1.4 trillion has gone to the Department of Defense, with about $165 billion provided for training indigenous security forces and for funding diplomatic relations and foreign aid for Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Cole said the price tag for fighting the Islamic State wouldn’t even approach that of prolonged ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“But most of the estimates I’ve seen about the cost of war upfront are wrong,’’ he said. “And you just have to recognize that. But the administration I think was a little slow to realize the nature of the threat, and has been tentative in deciding what to do. Partly because these questions are tough on Democrats.”

Cole has been among the most prominent Republican voices for a congressional debate on U.S. strategy against the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS and ISIL. Cole believes the president should present Congress with a specific request for authorization as a starting point for that debate.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, agrees that lawmakers should debate a new authorization — even if the actions currently being taken by the U.S. military are covered by the one passed for operations in Iraq more than a decade ago.

Pelosi said at a news conference last week: “We are the first branch of government, Article I, the legislative branch. Congress has a role in defining how our country degrades and defeats ISIS, one of the challenges that we face to our national security ... When this Congress comes back into session in November, it is important that we are here, we are ready to debate and vote on such an authorization. Between then and now we should be preparing.”

The administration has insisted there are no plans to use U.S. ground troops in Syria, and Cole said he would only be willing to commit forces there “to destroy ISIL and then get out of there.”

The Middle East, Cole said, “is clearly in a profound sense of change. It wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t for energy and if it wasn’t for its ability to export violence. And those two things mean the United States is going to have to be involved at some level. And it’s going to be murky ... there are hard decisions.”

Online: The Oklahoman

Issues:Defense, National Security & Foreign Affairs