UPDATE 2-Iraq role to last years, cost more -US officials http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3153288920070801?sp=true
Tue Jul 31, 2007
(Adds Bush request for armored vehicles, paragraph 8)
By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's nominee to be top military adviser said on Tuesday the United States would be in Iraq for "years not months" and a Pentagon official said the war was costing even more than expected.
Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, picked as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned U.S. lawmakers unhappy with the conflict against seeking a rapid pullout from Iraq, saying it could turn the country into a "caldron." While prudence dictated planning for an eventual pullout, Mullen said that under one scenario it could take three to four years just to halve the 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq. Many Democrats want to pull out combat troops by April. http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3153288920070801?sp=true