Pentagon: More Iraqis—not more troops—needed in reconstruction

The Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday grilled top Pentagon and State Department officials on U.S. military commitments abroad and questioned whether or not the United States should deploy additional troops to Iraq.

The hearing came one day after the Pentagon revealed it would extend tours for Army National Guard and Reserve forces in Iraq to one year.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers told the panel there is no need to send more U.S. troops to the region, and said that any more would simply add to the growing number of U.S. casualties there.

Instead, they hope to use funds in the Bush administration's forthcoming $87 billion supplemental spending request to accelerate training for the Iraqi army and other security forces who could ultimately relieve U.S. troops now filling that role.

In testimony before the committee, Wolfowitz quoted former New York City Police Chief Bernard Kerik, who spent four months in Iraq training the police force.

"'If you triple the number of coalition forces, you'll probably triple the attacks on the troops,'" Kerik was quoted as saying. "The future is not in the military but in getting control back in the hands of the Iraqi people."

The administration also expects some troop contributions from allies as a result of an impending U.N. Security Council resolution that will give the international body a larger role in Iraq. Several Democratic senators suggested such foreign military assistance could be key to garnering their support for the president's supplemental funding request.

Asked by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., when to expect the first international contingent to arrive in Iraq, Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman responded vaguely, saying, "It depends on how soon the U.N. Security Council resolution passes."

At the hearing, Myers said the Pentagon is expecting a third multinational brigade to take shape in the near term, but regardless, troop levels will not necessarily change. He also said the Army is closely scrutinizing the type of forces under consideration for the next cycle of deployments in March and April of 2004, adding that the Pentagon continues to study its current mix of active and reserve duty troops.

"It's not just the mix but do we have enough of things, like military police or civil affairs-to carry on in the future," Myers said. "We will probably come to the conclusion that we don't."