U.S. readies replacement troops for Iraq
Lawmakers question whether armed forces are spread too thin
By Sean Loughlin
CNN Washington Bureau
 |
An all-volunteer team of the North Dakota Air National Guard's 119th Security Forces Squadron prepares for deployment to Iraq.
Story Tools
VIDEO
|
Two survivors of the Chinook helicopter crash talk about the attack in Iraq.
CNN's Matthew Chance on a second night of blasts rocking central Baghdad.
Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen says more Iraqis should be involved in postwar plans.
|
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top Pentagon general told lawmakers Wednesday that more active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops will soon get orders to Iraq as replacements for those now in the country.
Pentagon sources said the rotation plan, approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calls for sending more than 100,000 fresh troops to Iraq early next year. A formal announcement is expected Thursday. (Full story)
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said orders will start going out Wednesday night.
"It does includes a call-up of reserves, it does include land forces, it does include the Navy and Air Force with their capabilities to participate," Pace told the House Armed Services Committee.
Pentagon sources said the plan includes the call-up of some 40,000 National Guard and Reserve troops for one-year tours of duty in Iraq.
In addition, several thousand Marines, not originally part of the plan, will be used to make up for the failure of the United States to get enough commitments from other countries to field a third multinational division. There are already divisions led by the Polish and British.
Pace cited the rotation plan as lawmakers questioned whether U.S. forces have been stretched too thin and whether longer-than-expected deployments, particularly among Guard and Reserve units, was hurting morale or efficiency.
"We are pushing the envelope," said Democratic Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina. "We are using our troops pretty much to their maximum utility."
Several lawmakers pressed Pace and David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, on whether the size of the armed forces needs to be increased.
So far, the Pentagon has rejected that idea, saying innovations in how troops are used and greater flexibility are helping the United States meet its multiple missions abroad, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Before we come to the Congress of the United States and ask you to spend more money on more people, we need to make sure we are properly using the assets we have," Pace said.
Chu testified there is no indication the increasing demands on the reserves have hurt recruitment or retention levels.
He said that less than 3 percent of reservists serving in current operations were also called up for previous post-1996 operations, such as those in Bosnia and Kosovo.
But some lawmakers were clearly dubious that U.S. forces were not overburdened.
Republican Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico compared Washington to the fabled Emerald City in "The Wizard of Oz" with policymakers "hoping that Toto doesn't go over and pull back the curtain."
Wilson recently sent a letter to Rumsfeld signed by a bipartisan majority of the committee that urged him to bolster the active troop strength by two divisions.
A report analyzing the ability of the U.S. military to sustain an occupation in Iraq was also released at the hearing.
The report, by the Congressional Budget Office, concluded that the active Army would not be able to sustain an occupation force of its current size "beyond about March 2004 if it chose not to keep individual units deployed to Iraq for longer than one year without relief."
There was little in the way of fireworks at the hearing, and much of the questioning covered familiar ground.
Various lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans -- raised questions about how long the military would remain in Iraq and whether too much was being asked of both active duty and Reserve and National Guard forces.
Under sympathetic questioning from one GOP lawmaker, Pace rejected suggestions that the situation in Iraq could be compared to Vietnam.
Unlike the 1960s conflict, he said, U.S. forces are not facing a national army, nor anything like the Viet Cong.
"I would categorically tell you that this is not another Vietnam," Pace said.
Several lawmakers also gave a wary welcome to a report in The Washington Post that L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, supports the creation of an Iraqi-led paramilitary.
They said U.S. troops could use the relief but also worried aloud whether any insurgents or Saddam Hussein loyalists would be in any such security force.
Democratic Rep. Martin Meehan of Massachusetts said the administration needs to be careful that we don't "put the bad guys back in charge."
Pace did not confirm the Post report, but he said most of the former soldiers in Iraq's army were not "ideologically defined" and the United States "ought not ignore" that potential resource.
A statement released by Bremer disputed the Post report, saying no decision has been made and the matter was still under study.
CNN's Jamie McIntyre and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
