WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he plans to expand the size of the U.S. military to deal with the long-term fight against terrorism, The Washington Post reported on its Web site.

Bush, who gave an interview to the newspaper on Tuesday, said he had instructed new Defense Secretary Robert Gates to report back to him with a plan to increase ground forces, the Post said.

"I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops -- the Army, the Marines," Bush said according to the Post. "And I talked about this to Secretary Gates and he is going to spend some time talking to the folks in the building, come back with a recommendation to me about how to proceed forward on this idea."

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