US may keep 145,000 troops in Iraq up to five years: Myers
Fri Jul 2,
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A force of 145,000 US troops may be needed in Iraq (news - web sites) for as many as five years, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Richard Myers said.
"We can do that and we've got plans to do that for as long as it takes, because this will be event-driven, not time-line driven," the told PBS television.
The US military announced earlier in the week it will recall around 5,600 troops who already served in Iraq for support and logistics duty, and Myers said the call-back was needed to beef up current troop strength.
"We're a 20th-century force in a 21st-century security environment," he said.
"In the meantime, we have to rely on other tools," he said.
"It will take six months, a year, a year-and-a-half, two years, three years, probably four or five years before we get this force set to have the kind of skills where we need them to do the kind of things we need to do in this security environment," he said.
"It will be events on the ground and commanders' estimates that will help us there," he said.
Marines Die in Western Iraq Fighting
Fri Jul 2,10:27 AM ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. Marine was killed in action Friday and a second died of wounds suffered in a separate engagement the previous day, the U.S. command said.
Both engagements occurred in Anbar province, the volatile Sunni Muslim-dominated region of Iraq (news - web sites) extending from the outskirts of Baghdad to the borders of Syria and Jordan.
The province includes Fallujah, Ramadi and other insurgent strongholds, but the statement did not specify where the two Marines died. Both were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
No further details were released.
At least 853 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Defense Department. |
