Iraq may require more troops, general says
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 19, 2004
WASHINGTON – The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Wednesday he may need more than the 135,000 troops already in Iraq once political control is handed back to the Iraqis on June 30 because the insurgency is likely to grow even more violent then.
Summoned to testify before Congress on prisoner abuse, Gen. John Abizaid also addressed broader issues, making clear that he believes time is running short to make a viable handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30.
President Bush warned that the Iraq could remain dangerous and unstable after the transfer of political power.
“It’s tough work there now because killers want to stop progress,” Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, premier of Italy, a strong ally in the war. “It will be tough work after sovereignty is transferred because there will still be people there trying to derail the election progress.”
A U.N. envoy, working with the Bush administration, is expected to name the interim government within two weeks, but political factions inside Iraq are jockeying over who should be on it. Bush said the full transfer of sovereignty would be accompanied by a U.N. Security Council resolution – a measure being designed to attract more international backing for coalition efforts in Iraq.
Berlusconi said he and Bush also discussed the possibility of convening a meeting in New York where the new president of Iraq could meet with members of the U.S. Security Council and other leaders.
“We fully share the strategy that needs to follow,” Berlusconi said. “Should we leave, abandon Iraq before a democracy takes hold, then we would leave this country to chaos.”
At the Capitol, Abizaid conceded in his testimony that he may have underestimated the strength of the Iraqi insurgency and said U.S. forces are hampered by shortages of military police and other support troops.
As chief of the Central Command running the war, Abizaid said he takes responsibility for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. Overcrowding in the cells of that jail “contributed to systemic failures,” and may have created conditions for abuse to take place, he said.
Appearing with Abizaid, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told the Senate Armed Services Committee that military personnel who received reprimands or similar sanctions for their roles in the abuse may face criminal charges, too.
The troops who detained and interrogated prisoners at Abu Ghraib and their entire chain of command are being investigated, said Sanchez, the most senior U.S. commander based in Iraq. “And that includes me,” he said.
Associated Press
Gen. John Abizaid testifies Wednesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C, on prisoner abuse.
