Huge influx of troops sought to secure Iraq
By Seattle Times news services
WASHINGTON — Amid growing indications that some of the attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq are organized and coordinated, the chief civilian administrator and Army officers on the ground would like an increase of as many as 50,000 troops in the theater, according to knowledgeable sources.
A plea by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer for the additional troops was discussed at a national-security council meeting several days ago. The White House has indicated it would be reluctant to agree to such a large increase, the equivalent of more than two divisions, the sources said.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was reviewing the request from Bremer, U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A source outside the administration but familiar with the deliberations said, "The White House is aware that Bremer wants them," he said. "They're not happy about it. They don't want a formal request because then, politically, there's fallout."
Another source, who was briefed by senior Army officers, said that Bremer and Army generals inside Iraq would like to reinforce the 146,000 U.S. troops inside Iraq with an additional 50,000.
The issue of troop strength to stabilize a postwar Iraq is a sensitive one.
In February, then-Army chief of staff Eric Shinseki was publicly ridiculed by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq policy, for telling Congress that "several hundred thousand" troops would be needed to guarantee stability.
President Bush, meanwhile, began preparing the American public yesterday for a prolonged U.S. role in Iraq, citing the need for "a massive and long-term" effort to bring democracy and prosperity to the war-torn country.
Bush's remarks come against a backdrop of growing unrest in Iraq, where 25 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile action since the president declared major combat over on May 1.
Amid the reports of unrest, Americans have begun to show ambivalence about the mission, a Gallup poll done for USA Today and CNN shows.
Only slim majorities of 56 percent thought that the postwar situation was going well and that the war was worthwhile, while Americans were split on whether the United States would be able to kill or capture Saddam Hussein, find weapons of mass destruction, establish a stable democracy and stop attacks on U.S. soldiers.
Senior American officials said Bremer had asked for dozens of civilian officials to make up for a shortage of skilled Iraqi administrators who weren't closely affiliated with Saddam's regime.
In addition, more U.S. troops were needed as a "stopgap measure" until international peacekeepers start to arrive, one American official said.
A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon wouldn't discuss any communications between Rumsfeld and Bremer.
Rumsfeld on Monday denied that he had received "any requests for anything that has not been supplied."
At the same time, Rumsfeld said he had asked U.S. military commanders for an assessment of their troop requirements, taking into account how long units had been deployed, what rotations were planned and what functions international peacekeepers could assume.
In addition to the 146,000 U.S. troops, there are 12,000 coalition soldiers in place. More than 20,000 additional troops, mostly from Britain and Poland, will be arriving in Iraq later this month, and an undetermined number from such countries as Bulgaria, Honduras, Slovakia and Italy are also expected to be sent.
A senior defense official said some military units had been in the Middle East since before the invasion of Iraq began March 20 and were exhausted.
In addition, more specialized troops, such as military police, are required to replace combat forces, he said.
Bush said U.S. troops would prevail over what his administration described as well-trained militants that have been killing and injuring U.S. forces.
Bremer, head of the Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority, said at a news conference in Baghdad yesterday that the "great majority" of the attacks "are being organized by members of the ex-regime."
An intelligence source said that the National Security Agency has intercepted communications and done "analysis that shows coordination" in several of the attacks.
"All of the coordination is in the Sunni Arab areas" in north-central Iraq, the stronghold of Saddam's regime, the source said.
Patrick Lang, a former senior Defense Intelligence Agency official who specialized in the Middle East, said that the evidence of some coordination in the attacks suggests that Saddam loyalists may have prepared for extended warfare, such as prepositioning weapons, before U.S. troops invaded in March.
However, at a White House ceremony yesterday, Bush sought to pin some of the responsibility for recent attacks on a small group linked to the al-Qaida terror organization.
He said that the group, Ansar al-Islam, whose base in northern Iraq was virtually obliterated by U.S. warplanes and ground troops at the beginning of the war, was responsible for some of the attacks.
He also warned that terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has had historical connections to al-Qaida, were lurking in Iraq "waiting for an opportunity to strike."
Bush cast the struggle in Iraq as part of the continuing war against terrorism in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
"Less than two years ago, determined enemies of America entered our country, committed acts of murder against our people, and made clear their intentions to strike again," he said. "As long as terrorists and their allies plot to harm America, America is at war."
As part of the justification for the war in Iraq, Bush and his lieutenants described ties between Iraq and al-Qaida.
A still-classified national intelligence report from that time, however, raised doubts about those ties, intelligence officials have said.
According to a poll released yesterday by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, 71 percent said they believed that the Bush administration implied that Saddam was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while 25 percent believed, incorrectly, that Iraq was directly involved in the attacks.
Compiled from Newsday, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Knight Ridder Newspapers reports.
(Bring 'em on. Troops that is. Mission, aparently, Not Accomplished.)
Rascal@ patientlyfollowingthepapertrail.com |
