DIWANIYAH, Iraq – The top U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged on Thursday that the U.S. Army was stretched, but insisted forces here were capable of accomplishing their mission and any recommendation to reduce troops further would be dictated by the situation on the battlefield.
| Latest identifications reported by the military of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq:
Army Sgt. Joshua Johnson, 24, Richford, Vt.; killed Wednesday in Ramadi by a rocket attack on his vehicle; assigned to the Army National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), Jericho, Vt. Marine Sgt. Sean Miles, 28, Midlothian, Va.; killed Tuesday by small-arms fire in Karmah; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. |
U.S. officials said Gen. George Casey was speaking about the Army in general and not specifically about the 136,000-strong force in Iraq. However, his comments are likely to fuel a debate inside the U.S. government over whether the United States can sustain the fight long enough to break the back of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
“The forces are stretched … and I don’t think there’s any question of that,” Casey said. “But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units.”
Casey said he had discussed manpower strains with Gen. Peter Schoomaker on Wednesday and that the Army chief of staff feels he can sustain missions around the world. Casey was adamant that the troops in Iraq were getting the job done.
“So, yep, folks are stretched here, but they certainly accomplish their mission, and the forces that you’ve seen on the ground are absolutely magnificent,” Casey said.
In Washington, President Bush brushed aside talk that the United States could not prevail in Iraq.
“If the question is whether or not we can win victory in Iraq, our commanders will have the troops necessary to do that. If the question is, Can we help keep the peace in a place like the Far East? Absolutely,” Bush said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. command announced that two more American soldiers died Wednesday – one in a bombing south of Baghdad and a second of wounds suffered in a rocket attack in Ramadi. At least 2,238 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed Thursday in attacks around the country, police said.
Also Thursday, the military released five Iraqi women detainees, a move demanded by the kidnappers of American reporter Jill Carroll. Officials said the women were part of a group of about 420 Iraqis to be released Thursday and today and that their freedom was not connected to efforts to free Carroll, who was seized in Baghdad on Jan. 7.
Casey spoke after attending a ceremony in which Polish troops transferred leadership of the south-central region of Iraq to Iraqi forces, the first such large-scale handover since the conflict began in 2003.
The transfer of authority for the sector, which includes about 25 percent of the country, was part of a larger strategy by the U.S.-led coalition to build up Iraqi forces and give them greater role in security – a move that could enable American and other international troops to draw down.
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