UP, UP, UP

Bush didn't lie about WMD in his address last night, though he only did so by not mentioning anything about them, with the exception of Saddam's using them in the 1980's, when he was our buddy.

It appears, however, that he wasn't entirely accurate on the nucleus of his address, that being the cost of the postwar effort in Iraq.

Via Atrios (who's having a better night than his hometown Eagles), we see that the White House is ALREADY ADMITTING that the $87 billion they requested for the postwar effort isn't nearly enough.

The White House acknowledged Monday that it substantially underestimated the cost of rebuilding Iraq, and that even the additional $87 billion it is seeking from a wary Congress will fall far short of what is needed for postwar reconstruction.

Administration officials said President Bush's emergency spending request -- which would push the U.S. deficit above the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time -- still leaves a reconstruction funding gap of as much as $55 billion dollars.

"It is fair to say that the level of decay and underinvestment in the Iraqi infrastructure was worse than almost anybody on the outside anticipated," said one senior administration official.

"We were all surprised," said another.

The revised estimates underscored the political challenge facing both the president, who asked Americans on Sunday evening to prepare themselves for a longer and costlier engagement in Iraq, and members of Congress, who are being asked to more than double the financial commitment of U.S. taxpayers. It comes amid the increasing clamor of the 2004 election cycle, and growing concern about the wisdom of spending more money overseas when the U.S. economy is shedding jobs and the federal deficit is ballooning.

Administration officials stressed that they had no plans to ask Congress for more than the $87 billion during the coming fiscal year, which ends just before next year's elections. They said they would pressure other countries to come up with the additional funds needed to restore security in Iraq and repair its ravaged infrastructure. An international donors conference is scheduled for Oct. 23-24 in Madrid, Spain, to solicit money for reconstruction.

Well, that was mighty fast.

Surely, Bush's contributors would be happy to give back parts of their purty tax cuts to help finance the situation?