Democrats attack Bush for not sending more U.S. troops to Iraq

More US troops needed in Iraq, say Democrats

24.11.2003 1.28 pm

WASHINGTON - More United States troops are needed in

Iraq now to put down an escalating insurgency, the top

Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

said on Sunday.

And the Democratic leader of the US Senate, Tom

Daschle, said additional American troops "ought to be

an option on the table."

"... If we don't see an improvement, that has to be an

option," Daschle said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said if

more counterinsurgency and special operations forces

were deployed, US troops would be able to withdraw

from the embattled country more quickly.

"There's a direct relationship, us going in now and

doing more so that we can get out earlier," he said on

Fox News Sunday.

"I understand it's incredibly difficult for the

president to go to the American people and say we're

going to put more troops in near term," Biden said.

"...(But) there is not enough force or the right type

of force there at this moment to quell the

insurgency."

Daschle and Biden spoke of the deteriorating security

situation in Iraq as at least three more American

soldiers were killed on Sunday, including two who

witnesses said were stabbed and had their throats slit

when their car was stopped in traffic.

"I think (Bush) needs to recognise that we've got to

make security number one. We lost 70 troops, now, this

month alone," Daschle said. "The president's way

behind the curve."

Since US President George W Bush declared an end to

major hostilities on May 1, 185 US troops have been

killed in action.

Around 130,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq, the

vast majority of an international coalition of nearly

150,000. US military planners have said they don't

need more American soldiers in Iraq to combat a group

of attackers numbered at around 5000.

Biden said he was unsure how many more troops would be

required, but that military planners had indicated "a

different mix of troops" was needed, "more

counter-insurgency folks and more special forces in

there."

He also said it was unlikely enough Iraqis could be

trained in time to take over security by next spring

when the US is set to hand back control of the country

to Iraqis.

"It's a bit Pollyannish to think we're going to have a

couple hundred thousand Iraqis trained up... to

essentially take the place of a significant portion of

US or international forces," Biden said.

On CNN's Late Edition, Senator Joseph Lieberman, a

Connecticut Democrat and presidential candidate,

blamed the Bush administration's "lack of preparedness

and strength" for "the chaos that's there now."

"The slashing of throats of Americans by the enemy

shows how inhumane, how brutal, how dangerous the

enemy is that we're facing," Lieberman said later. "We

cannot let the insurgent enemy in Iraq win."

...It should redouble our commitment to do whatever's

necessary to defeat the enemy we are facing in Iraq."

On CBS' Face the Nation, retired Army General Wesley

Clark, another Democratic presidential candidate, took

issue with administration policy of not allowing news

coverage of coffins returning from Iraq.

"This government doesn't want to recognise their

sacrifices that way because it's afraid it will,

quote, 'undercut public resolve,"' Clark said. "...The

real problem this administration has is it doesn't

have a strategy for success in Iraq."

- REUTERS