From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The Defense Budget and the War in Iraq.

Hello again, I'm a woman only, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues. Americans care about most. The much-anticipated

Senate debate on Iraq is still a non-starter, as Democrats and Republicans squabble over the ground

rules. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is asking Congress to increase defense spending to near

record levels, with the Pentagon ready to ask for more. The military agrees it'll take years to catch

up with repair and replacement

of basic equipment, but it still wants new hugely expensive high-tech systems. On to the point,

the U.S. already is spending more than the rest of the world combined on preparing for warfare.

Does it get what it pays for? What are the tradeoffs in domestic services and alleviation of global problems? First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again. Mormon Alany back with To the Point. The Iraq War has intensified this year's

debate on increasing the Pentagon's budget, which the President calls necessary for the war on terror.

On To the Point is the military spending more and getting less for the money. What are the

tradeoffs? What's the impact on the

economy? First, this news update has promised Democrats are beginning their public investigation into

the conduct of the Iraq War and the occupation. The first witness, Paul Bremer, who led the

coalition Provisional Authority. California Democrat Henry Waxman is chair of the House Committee on Oversight

and government reform. The cash weighed more than 363 tons and was loaded on to C-130 cargo planes

to be flown into Baghdad. The numbers are so large that it doesn't seem possible that they're true.

Who in their right mind would send 360 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did.

...