Three 'more' options for Bush and Maliki by Dan Murphy at CSM

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Three 'more' options for Bush and Maliki
A leaked memo suggests three ways the US might help the Iraqi leader: more troops, more money, and more diplomacy.

By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

CAIRO – "Even before President Bush was scheduled to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Jordan to talk about how to stop the spiraling violence in Iraq, the administration had already made clear many of the options.
As outlined in a Nov. 8 memo from national security adviser Stephen Hadley and provided to The New York Times, as well as in discussions among key advisers to the president, the ideas from the US can be boiled down to "three mores": More troops, more money, more regional diplomacy.

The first more is what some advisers to the Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker, are calling the "surge" option, essentially pouring thousands more American troops into the country in the hope that boots on the ground will translate into law and order. Baghdad, the religiously mixed capi- tal where death squads now roam, would be the principal beneficiary.

In his memo, Mr. Hadley refers to a "four brigade gap" in combat power in Baghdad, implying that US officials believe the city needs roughly 13,000 additional soldiers. While he says he hopes that local troops will be mustered to do the job, he writes that "we might also need to fill the ... with coalition forces if reliable Iraqi forces are not identified."

............SNIP"

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1130/p01s01-woiq.html