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To: Oeconomicus who wrote (158279)	7/1/2003 6:46:10 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

Experts Say U.S. Needs Foreign Help in Iraq Tue Jul 1,10:44 AM ET By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two months after President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over in Iraq (news - web sites), the United States needs more troops on the ground and should accept any foreign help it can get to crush resistance and start real nation-building, military analysts said on Tuesday. Since May 1, at least 25 U.S. troops have been killed in hostile circumstances in Iraq, in a conflict experts say is fast becoming a low-level guerrilla war -- a description rejected by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "The war has moved into a disturbing new phase, a guerrilla, counter-insurgency phase. We need to adapt," said retired Army Gen. Dan Christman, a former Pentagon (news - web sites) planner. Six more U.S. soldiers were wounded on Tuesday and a fatal blast at a mosque fueled Muslim anger toward U.S. forces. Christman and other military analysts said the United States needed to adapt by getting more boots on the ground to deter attacks and to enable politicians to focus on nation-building and win over a distrustful Iraqi population. "Our army is absolutely stretched thin and we ought to be reaching out to all of those countries who are offering to send troops -- the Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, the Indians, and NATO (news - web sites) -- I'm not sure why we have been reluctant to pick up a NATO offer," said the retired general. NATO's role in Iraq so far has been agreeing to provide logistics help for up to 7,500 Polish troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq this summer. Christman said the presence of other flags would boost U.S. legitimacy during the crucial reconstruction phase, which should focus on the economy and getting oil pumping again. Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat from Delaware, said last weekend after a trip to Iraq that an international force of up to 60,000 troops was needed to halt the violence. Retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Boyd agreed NATO should get involved and he estimated several hundred thousand troops would be needed. "We need far more than 150,000 troops to secure a country of that size," said Boyd. Rumsfeld said the United States has been in discussions with more than 20 countries about what they can contribute. "We have been working for weeks to bring in additional countries' forces into Iraq," he told reporters on Monday. Analysts believe the reconstruction phase has been damaged by a power vacuum left after President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was toppled on April 9, and the relative inexperience of U.S. troops in nation-building tactics. MORE IRAQI INVOLVEMENT While the attacks were significant, general public mistrust of U.S. troops was more disconcerting, said Marcus Corbin, a senior defense analyst at the Center for Defense Information. "The problem from the point of view of the Iraqis is that whatever limited authority they thought they were getting is being pulled back. Their sense is that things are going backward rather than forward," said Corbin. Corbin recommended the U.S. authority in Iraq should hand over as many government functions as possible to Iraqis. Analyst Anthony Cordesman predicted much of the resistance could dissipate once Iraqis could see a reason to halt extremist efforts. While basic services such as water and power were limited during Saddam's reign, some of these scarce resources have deteriorated since then, exacerbating Iraqi distrust. "It's the lack of goals that has led to the violence today. The absence of a clear plan fuels every conspiracy theory that exists in Iraq," said Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Cordesman said the U.S.-led administration focused too many efforts on Iraqi exiles, who now seek their share of power. "The exiles are basically as much as the problem as the Baath. They may not be killing American soldiers but in general they have served no other function than disruption," he said. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (158279)	7/1/2003 6:52:34 PM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

<<Cordesman said the U.S.-led administration focused too many efforts on Iraqi exiles, who now seek their share of power. "The exiles are basically as much as the problem as the Baath. They may not be killing American soldiers but in general they have served no other function than disruption," he said. >>

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (158279)	7/1/2003 6:53:57 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

<<Retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Boyd agreed NATO should get involved and he estimated several hundred thousand troops would be needed. "We need far more than 150,000 troops to secure a country of that size," said Boyd. >>

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (158279)	7/1/2003 10:59:57 PM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

<<"I think we are there for 10 years," General Barry McCaffrey told BBC television's Newsnight program, stressing that the next 12 months would be very tough.>> Former U.S. Army Chief Warns of Long Haul in Iraq Tue Jul 1, 6:28 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A former four-star U.S. army general who led a major and controversial attack during the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, warned on Tuesday that U.S. troops could be locked into Iraq (news - web sites) for the next decade. "I think we are there for 10 years," General Barry McCaffrey told BBC television's Newsnight program, stressing that the next 12 months would be very tough. "We have got a year of a very complex, dangerous, violent environment that we are going to have to deal with. We have got three huge, warring factions -- the Kurds, the Shia, the Sunni Muslims," McCaffrey, who retired in 1996, said. McCaffrey, who led the U.S. 24th mechanized infantry division in what was termed the greatest cavalry charge in history in the famed "left hook" dash during the 1991 Iraq war, warned of a "growing and very violent underground opposition." He said the U.S. forces, with international reinforcements, would cope in the short term, but with two-thirds of the armed forces deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and South Korea (news - web sites) it was not sustainable long term. "The coalition can't create security and stability operations by themselves. You have to build an Iraqi police force and build a new Iraqi military...that is capable of maintaining their own security," he added. McCaffrey called on President Bush (news - web sites) to tell the truth to the Americans with more than 20 soldiers killed in ambushes in the two months since he declared the war over. "I think there has been some unhelpful language. We have got to be straight with the American people and we have got to be straight with the U.S. armed forces," McCaffrey said. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Oeconomicus who wrote (158279)	7/2/2003 6:05:12 AM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

Majority in US believes Bush 'stretched truth' about Iraq: poll WASHINGTON (AFP) - For the first time since the beginning of the war in Iraq (news - web sites), a solid majority of Americans believe the Bush administration either "stretched the truth" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or told outright lies, according to a new opinion survey. The poll by the University of Maryland found that 52 percent of respondents said they believed President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his aides were "stretching the truth, but not making false statements" about Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Another 10 percent said US officials were presenting Congress, the American public and the international community "evidence they knew was false," indicated the survey which was made public Tuesday. Only 32 percent said they thought the government was being "fully truthful" about the Iraqi arsenal. The weapons of mass destruction -- as well as the Iraqi government's alleged ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist group -- which the administration claimed represented an immediate threat to the Unites States, served as the chief rationale for launching the March 20 invasion of the country. But more than three months since the start of the war, US troops have yet to find any of the suspected weapons. Similarly, 56 percent of those polled believed the US government stretched the truth or made outright false statements about Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda. The nationwide survey of 1,051 people was conducted from June 18 to 25 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent. story.news.yahoo.com