. . . President Bush is weighing a short-term U.S. troop increase in Iraq, a spokesman said on Tuesday as he denied reports of a rift between the White House and resistant Pentagon chiefs.
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. . . President Bush is weighing a short-term U.S. troop increase in Iraq, a spokesman said on Tuesday as he denied reports of a rift between the White House and resistant Pentagon chiefs.
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done little so far to rein them in. The Pentagon report said the Mehdi Army exerted “significant influence” over the government. The ICG warned in its report of tensions between the Mehdi Army and the Badr Brigades, a militia loyal to the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. “Both Shi’ite paramilitary groups are engaged in a dangerous tug-of-war over the holy city of Najaf,” the report said. It took issue with the Iraq Study Group’s call to speed up the handover of security control to Iraqi forces, even as U.S. officials prepared to hand over Najaf Wednesday.
Iraq’s vice president said he favored a timetable for a withdrawal but that troops could not leave until Iraqi forces were able to handle the situation on their own. “We work closely with the Americans who want their soldiers home. But withdrawal cannot come before the Iraqi forces are capable of handling the situation on their own,” Tareq al-Hashemi told reporters in New York after talks with United Nations Secretary-general Kofi Annan.
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