The Army in Iraq is running out of money. So are the other branches of the military.

According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. military is running more than $12 billion short on money for operations in Iraq.

The Defense Department is scrambling to shift money from other areas to cover the shortfall. Training is being curtailed. Maintenance is being put off. Pilots are being grounded.

Mindful of election year politics, the Bush administration is ignoring the problem. Congress passed a $65 billion emergency funding bill in November for the military’s operations in Iraq. The amount is proving insufficient.

The assumptions used to arrive at the $65 billion figure have fallen apart. Troop levels in Iraq have increased. Planners thought they would decrease after the hand over of power at the end of June. Violence has also increased, and the toll on both soldiers and equipment is higher than expected. A typical day in Iraq sees at least 20 bombings or other attacks.

And the military is running out of bullets. Domestic production for rifle ammunition has not been able to keep up with demand, so the military is paying a premium for bullets imported from Britain and Israel. Planners didn’t anticipate the demand for ammunition because they failed to anticipate the resistance that U.S. forces would face during the occupation of Iraq.

The Army, alone, is about $10 billion over budget for its activities in Iraq. The Marines, Air Force and Navy are also breaking the bank.

As it stands, new money won’t be available until the new federal fiscal year begins in October. Then, the military will get $25 billion to hold it over until a new budget can be passed sometime next spring.

Either the Bush administration has grossly failed to properly plan for operations in Iraq once again, or it is reluctant to appropriate enough money because leaders want to downplay the already huge federal deficit that has developed under their watch.

We’ve put our military into a terrible position, scraping the the bottom of the bucket to get by. Congress needs to act immediately to get the military the cash it needs, even if that means cutting its summer vacation short.

Furniture flap

Opposition to the bond that would pay for new furniture for Auburn Hall is misplaced. It is completely reasonable for the city to buy new furniture and office equipment for the refurbished town building.

Our sense is that the city’s residents aren’t really angry over new cubicles, desks and chairs. They’re upset over the way the city has handled negotiations with the unions that represent city workers, including the Fire Department and police, and the restrictions placed on the school budget. Furniture for bureaucrats is an easy target for a backlash.

The city must walk a fine line with Auburn Hall. Residents should be proud of their municipal center, but if it looks too nice catcalls about extravagance will resound. We already hear the building ridiculed as the “Taj Mahal.”

City Manager Pat Finnigan says the overall Auburn Hall project is on budget. We’ll be watching to make sure that holds true. Furniture and other equipment was not included in the earlier bond because city leaders didn’t want to take on more debt than necessary before they had to. That’s sound.

The people who will work in Auburn Hall should have comfortable chairs and efficient work spaces. Despite the stereotype of government paper-pushers, they do important work and should have appropriate equipment.

The furniture flap has more to do with the city’s mishandling of other issues than whether it is a good idea to invest in office equipment meant to last 20 years. The City Council should take the heat – which members brought on themselves with other actions – and approve the bond.