AFRICOM head says funding not a worry

[unhappycamper]

AFRICOM head says funding not a worry
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, October 9, 2008

WASHINGTON — The head of U.S. Africa Command isn’t concerned by recent funding cuts in his fiscal 2009 budget, insisting it won’t affect the set-up and operations of the new command.

President Bush had requested $389 million to fund AFRICOM in fiscal 2009, but Congress approved only $266 million in its budget plans last month. Lawmakers said the decision not to base the command’s headquarters on the African continent allowed them to trim the funds.

But Gen. William "Kip" Ward, who officially took over the command on Oct. 1, said after some program transfers he expects to have about $300 million in funds available for operations, a figure he is comfortable with.

"We don’t ever get everything we ask for," he said. "But with this budget, I see no major impacts at all."

Ongoing training exercises and logistical support operations won’t be affected by the cuts, Ward said. And about $20 million of the lost funding was directly tied to establishing a U.S. headquarters on the African continent, an idea abandoned by the Pentagon last spring.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57989