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U.S. military officials disagree on more troops for
Iraq
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.— The White
House wants to add thousands of troops to those it
currently has in Iraq in an attempt to stop the
insurgency, but this strategy is being questioned by
the Pentagon’s top officials, according to The
Washington Post today.
Sources cited by the newspaper
affirm, according to PL, that the decision to
increase the number of soldiers is being rejected by
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose officers fear that
new deployments will not help the United States
attain its long-term objectives, and will actually
end up helping the insurgency.
According to the Post,
President George W. Bush’s plan is to rapidly
dispatch an additional contingent of 15,000 to
30,000 soldiers for a six-month mission, with the
goal of containing resistance actions against the
occupation forces.
Despite the position taken by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon is also
considering — according to a Tuesday report by the
CNN television network —sending two groups of
battleships to the Persian Gulf as a means of
dissuading the Iraqi insurgency.
(Translated by Granma International) |
