Pentagon reviews Bush strategy
2006-11-11 09:55
New York - Top United States military leaders have begun a broad review of strategy in Iraq and other crisis areas in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, The New York Times reported in its Saturday editions.
Citing Pentagon officials, the Times reported that joint chiefs of staff chairperson general Peter Pace had assembled a team of "some of the military's brightest and most innovative officers" and charged them with taking a fresh look at Iraq, Afghanistan and other flashpoints.
Pace announced the review in a series of television interviews on Friday, but did not give many details.
The New York Times said that, among the ideas discussed, was increasing the size of the Iraqi security forces, along with US efforts to train and equip them, and adjusting the size of the American force in Iraq.
It said Pentagon officials had stressed that the review extended well beyond Iraq, and that some unorthodox ideas on how to fight terrorism were being weighed.
The military review formally began on September 25 and was being co-ordinated with the rest of the government, reported the Times, but the team has not met with members of the Iraq study group, the commission also looking into options for Iraq.
Iraqi commander included on team
Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that the team's objective was to outline options that Pace might draw on in advising President George W Bush and Robert Gates, Bush's choice for defence secretary.
The team involved in the military review includes colonel HR McMaster, a US army officer whose 2005 operation in Tal Afar has been cited as a textbook case in how to wage counter-insurgency in Iraq.
Also on the team is colonel Peter Mansoor, the director of the US army and marine corps counter-insurgency centre at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Times reported that Mansoor commanded a US army brigade that fought the Mahdi army at Karbala in 2004.
In all, more than a dozen military officers are on the team, which is overseen by captain Michael Rogers of the navy, a special assistant to Pace.
The review includes the participation of general George Casey Jr, the top commander in Iraq, and general John Abizaid, the head of the US central command and is to be completed by early December.
- Reuters