Fwd: 'Hundreds of thousands of troops' to occupy Iraq, says US general

[Mark Pavlick]

>
>'Hundreds of thousands of troops' to occupy Iraq, says US general
>By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
>The Independent
>26 February 2003
>
>The military force required to occupy a post-Saddam Iraq could comprise
>several hundred thousand troops, far higher than any estimate so far, the US
>Army's most senior general said last night.
>
>General Eric Shinseki, the army's Chief of Staff, told the Senate Armed
>Services Committee that Iraq was "a piece of geography that's fairly
>significant" and that a post-war force would have to be big enough to
>maintain safety in a country with "ethnic tensions that could lead to other
>problems".
>
>Questioned by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the most senior Democrat on
>the Committee, General Shinseki declined to give a specific estimate, saying
>he would rely on the recommendation of commanders in the region.
>
>But he added in response to further probing that the figure would be "what's
>been mobilised to this point, something on the order of several hundred
>thousand soldiers". And he added: "Assistance from friends and allies would
>be helpful."
>
>The US and Britain will have massed at least 200,000 troops in the Gulf by
>the time a war might start, perhaps in mid-March. But it had been assumed
>until now that the post-war deployment would be much smaller, with Iraqi
>soldiers taking an increasing share of responsibilities.
>
>Pentagon commanders have already complained that their forces are being
>stretched thin by the looming war with Iraq and the growing tensions on the
>Korean peninsula.