US general says troop adjustments won't solve Iraq
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, adds details, comments throughout) By Andrew Gray and Kristin Roberts WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The top U.S. general in the Middle East on Wednesday rejected calls to either boost troop levels or withdraw from Iraq, saying Americans should stay and train local forces to eliminate raging sectarian violence. In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since voters drove President George W. Bush's Republicans out of power in the next Congress, partly due to anger over Iraq, Army Gen. John Abizaid said he favored speeding up the training of Iraqi forces. Abizaid said he did not want more troops on the ground, but he also warned against a timeline for withdrawal. Instead, the U.S. force already in Iraq, now at 141,000, should focus more on teaching, equipping and advising Iraqi units, he said. "Under the current circumstances, I would not recommend troop withdrawals," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also said "more American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, taking more responsibility for their future." "Troop levels need to stay where they are," Abizaid said. His comments were a rebuff both to Democrats calling for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops and Republicans such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a possible presidential candidate, who has called for an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq. Senators from both parties seized on Abizaid's remarks as evidence that war managers had not identified a new, effective plan for Iraq. "Hope is not a strategy," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat. "I have heard over and over again the Iraqi government must do this, the Iraqi army must do that. Nobody disagrees with that. The brutal fact is, it is not happening." McCain criticized Abizaid for offering a "status quo" recommendation, saying "the American people in the last election said that's not an acceptable condition." Democrats take control of Congress in January after a sweeping victory in last week's election that was widely seen as a repudiation of Bush's Iraq strategy. Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave until Iraqis can take over security, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal. Democrats have called for a new course in Iraq, and many are looking for an exit plan. The next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin of Michigan, wants the Pentagon to start pulling troops out in four to six months. "We should put the responsibility for Iraq's future squarely where it belongs, with the Iraqis," Levin said. After the hearing, Levin and Republican John Warner of Virginia, the current committee chairman, said they would try in January to make a bipartisan recommendation to Bush on a change of course in Iraq. DETERIORATING SECURITY As Congress debates troop levels, new strategies are being assessed by the Iraq Study Group, formed in March at the urging of some members of Congress to advise lawmakers and the president on the war and alternative plans. Pentagon officials are reviewing the strategy too, and Robert Gates, nominated after the Republicans' defeat to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, will face the task of implementing a new war plan or withdrawal. Those reviews come as the violence in Iraq increases in scope, complexity and lethality, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate panel. He said conditions exist that could lead to further deterioration of security and stability in Iraq. CIA Director Michael Hayden, a four-star Air Force general, warned about Iran's influence. "The Iranian hand appears to be powerful and I would offer the view: It appears to be growing and Iranian ambitions in Iraq seem to be expanding," Hayden said. "I would suggest to you, right now ... (Iran) seems to be conducting a foreign policy with a feeling of almost dangerous triumphalism." Rep. Ike Skelton, the Missouri Democrat likely to lead the House Armed Services Committee, pressed Abizaid and David Satterfield, senior adviser to the secretary of state and coordinator for Iraq, on security problems in Iraq. Skelton asked Satterfield whether the United States was winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. "No, we are not," Satterfield responded. Skelton asked Abizaid whether he could go to downtown Baghdad and have a cup of tea without an armed escort. The general responded: "No, I wouldn't advise it and I think that's the litmus test, isn't it, congressman?" (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Morgan)
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