Rumsfeld Says Iraq May Need a Larger Force

[LauraK]

WASHINGTON, July 13 ? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that the United States might need to send additional troops to Iraq to quell an increasingly well-organized guerrilla resistance, and warned that more American soldiers would die in attacks this summer.

Mr. Rumsfeld also said for the first time that the attacks against American troops by remnants of Saddam Hussein's security forces, Fedayeen fighters and Iraqi prisoners released before the war, were being coordinated at least on a regional level and possibly on a national level.

"It seems to me that the numbers of U.S. forces are unlikely to go up," he said on the NBC News program "Meet the Press." "Now, could they? You bet. If they're needed, they will be there."
<cut

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/international/worldspecial/14TROO.html

[wtmusic]

1. Rummy is a good liar

Russert wasn't up to the task on MTP, and wasn't prepared. Asked why NATO wasn't asked to get involved and had no background how that is done. He got flustered and didn't follow up.

The question no one seems to be able to ask: If * knew the intel was suspect, why did he say it, approved or not?

[JackSwift]

2. BRING IT ON!

Dick Cheney's company Halliburton needs that oil! Send more American troops whose pay we have cut and whose funerals we are too busy to attend.

[bobthedrummer]

3. n/t

:grr:

[gulliver]

4. Lip service to the military.

Rummy just wants to allay the suspicion that he would keep the force size low merely for political reasons. From what I have read about Rumsfeld, the suspicion is well founded. He would hate to have to send in another 53,000 troops to put the number at 200,000 -- mainly because it would look really bad.

So the soldiers who are there don't have a friend in Rumsfeld if their idea of a friend is someone who will send extra help when they need it. Rumsfeld should make clear that "if more troops are needed" means if the generals say so, not only if/when Rumsfeld thinks so.

[rustydog]

5. HUMMMMMM........

No longer referred to as Bathists (spelling?) loyal to Saddam?
A well-organized guerilla resistance....
NOT Al Qaeda-backed?

Did chicken-hawk Rummy lie when he said we could kill Iraqis on the cheap? you know...100,000 troops...a quick victory and troops greeted as heores!!!!!!

Could this chickenshit, who never served when his country called, be wrong in his first estimate ?????

[NYC]

6. Rumsfeld was a flight instructor in the Navy,

or something like that. No combat, but he did serve.

[invisibleplanet]

7. new american century.org

news from the world wide web, July 14th 2003

it has been noted that between the dates July 3rd and July 13th, the website for the right-wing thinktank,
http://www.newamericancentury.org
which housed documents on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli/Palestine conflict, has disappeared from the web.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...rch?....century


it's good to see that some of it's pages are still cached in google so u can still read any docs u find if u click on cached