US commander in Iraq: I need more soldiers, more time

Gen. David Petraeus also stressed the need for a spirit of compromise to take hold.

By Dan Murphy and Gordon Lubold | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor

from the March 9, 2007 edition

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BOSTON AND WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus assessed Thursday what he needs to succeed, in his first press conference after almost a month on the job as commander of US forces in Iraq.

The core of his assessment: He needs 2,200 more soldiers and more time. But the general also warned that those things alone won't be enough to bring success.

Instead, he said, the "critical" issue for Iraq was whether a spirit of compromise – elusive during four years of war – will emerge among Iraq's politicians. He said the US job is to provide security that could help calm sectarian passions and create space for politics to work.

"Any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq,'' General Petraeus, who helped pen America's new counterinsurgency manual before taking up his new post, told reporters. Instead, what's needed is political "reconciliation ... for people who felt that Iraq did not have a place for them."

He also said that it will be "critical" to work with some of the militants who have been fighting to undermine the government. This seemed to indicate support for reaching out to the Sunni insurgents behind the vast majority of US casualties.

But he and his aides are seeking to extend the size and duration of the "surge." That's in line with the counterinsurgency manual, which calls for a sustained large ground presence in conflicts like Iraq.

The surge was originally advertised as topping out at 21,500 additional troops. But on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Petraeus had requested 2,200 more military police – to serve as jailors for an expected increase in detainees – and that an additional 2,400 support troops would be needed, bringing the total surge to 27,100, a 21-percent increase over original expectations.

Frederick Kagan, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute and an advocate of adding troops, blames the White House for the impression that the surge is growing. He says support troops were always going to be needed, but the Bush adminstration failed to make that clear. But he adds that Petraeus will ask for even more troops if he thinks they're needed. "Of course the enemy has a vote and the situation can change."

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