Iraqi poll security questioned

2004-12-05 21:56

Washington - Leading senator John McCain questioned on Sunday whether even the planned increase in US forces in Iraq could provide enough security for January 30 elections, and declined to endorse the leadership of defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The Pentagon last week announced plans to restore US forces to their highest level since the invasion, but McCain said even 150 000 troops may not be enough to provide security for the first polls since Saddam Hussein's ouster.

"It probably isn't, but the problem that we have here is that the Pentagon has been reacting to initiatives from the enemy rather than taking initiatives from which the enemy has to react to," the Arizona Republican senator told the Fox News Sunday program.

"The Pentagon has reluctantly, obviously, gradually made some increases," he said.

"And the problem when you react, you have to extend people there which is terrible for morale, and there's a terrific strain on guard and reservists.

"And if you plan ahead, then you don't have to do some of these things."

"The military is too small," he said.

McCain, a long-time critic of Rumsfeld's handling of the war, declined to endorse the defence secretary's military leadership.

"I respect the president's decision" to keep Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, McCain said.

"I want to work with secretary Rumsfeld, because he will be the secretary of defence for an undetermined length of time."

Asked if that was a vote of confidence in Rumsfeld, the senator said: "No, it's not."

Rumsfeld has survived the shake-up in Bush's cabinet that has seen leading figures like secretary of state Colin Powell and homeland security secretary Tom Ridge announce their resignations.

- AFP