[Peace-discuss] more cannon fodder

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Rumsfeld Backs More Iraq Troops if Needed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Filed at 7:04 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If violence in Iraq gets worse, U.S. military commanders 
will get the troops they need to deal with it, Defense Secretary Donald H. 
Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

Coalition forces fought on two fronts Tuesday, battling a Shiite-inspired 
uprising in southern Iraq and Sunni insurgents in the city of Fallujah in clashes 
that have killed dozens of American troops and at least 100 Iraqis since the 
weekend.

Commanders are studying ways they might increase troops in Iraq if violence 
should spread much more widely, defense officials said.

Among the options are:

--Troops already inside Iraq could be moved around.

--Troops eventually headed for Iraq, now training in nearby Kuwait, could be 
sent early.

--More troops could be sent from the United States -- either reservists or 
active duty troops who have already served.

Officials said they also are talking to six more countries about the 
possibility of contributing forces. Such talks have continued throughout the campaign 
but have brought in only 24,000 international troops, compared with 135,000 
Americans in Iraq.

``I'm fearful of sending more American troops who will be drawn from the 
guard and reserve forces once again,'' said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. ``That's when 
we're going to exacerbate what I believe is a looming retention and 
recruitment problem.''

Nelson said, however, that American forces must remain committed.

Noting the Pentagon may have to send more troops, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., 
said:

``The bottom line is that we have no good options. This is complicated, and 
it is unpredictable and very dangerous.''

Gen. John Abizaid, the head of Central Command, and other senior generals 
ordered their staffs to study options after the outbreak of violence from a 
previously relatively quiet sector of Iraq: members of the Shiite sect of Islam. 
Most violence so far has been attributed to Sunni Muslims -- either members of 
Saddam's Sunni-led government, or extremists who follow al-Qaida.

Rumsfeld said commanders on the scene, including Abizaid, are constantly 
reviewing the situation and troop needs.

``They are the ones whose advice we follow on these things,'' Rumsfeld said 
during an appearance in Norfolk, Va., with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop 
Scheffer.

``They will decide what they need, and they will get what they need,'' 
Rumsfeld said.

The 135,000 total of U.S. troops in Iraq is ``an unusually high level,'' 
Rumsfeld said. American officials had expected the figure to go down to about 
115,000 when a series of rotations of new troops into and older troops out of the 
country was complete, Rumsfeld said.

``The commanders are using the excess forces that happen to be in there 
because of the deployment process,'' Rumsfeld said.

Some 200,000 Iraqis have been hired for a new Iraq army, as police, border 
security, guards at infrastructure and so on. But it will take months before 
most are sufficiently trained and equipped to handle the violence, Abizaid has 
said.

Rumsfeld said there is a possibility that NATO will help in Iraq. The 
alliance has a peacekeeping force of 6,500 in Afghanistan and is expanding its work 
there.

``I suspect that we'll see -- I would be delighted to see -- NATO take a 
larger role ... in Afghanistan, then Iraq,'' Rumsfeld said. De Hoop Scheffer said 
that Afghanistan remains NATO's top priority.

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Associated Press writers Sonja Barisic in Norfolk and Jean Ortiz in Omaha 
contributed to this report.