Bush criticised as Iraq war 'lacks sufficient troops'

CONGRESSIONAL critics of US President George W Bush's stay-the-course commitment to the war in Iraq argued yesterday that the administration lacks sufficient troops on the ground to mount a successful counterinsurgency.

Democrats in particular criticised Bush for again raising the September 11 attacks as a justification for the protracted fight in Iraq after the president proclaimed anew that he plans to keep US forces there as long as necessary to ensure peace.

Urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, Bush mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Some Democrats quickly accused him of reviving a questionable link to the war in Iraq - a rationale that Bush originally used to help justify launching strikes against Baghdad in the spring of 2003.

Bush first mentioned the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre at the beginning of his speech, delivered at an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq. He acknowledged that Americans are disturbed by frequent deaths of US troops, but tried to persuade an increasingly sceptical public to stick with the mission.

"The war reached our shores on September 11, 2001," Bush told a national television audience and 750 soldiers and airmen in dress uniform.

Bush said he understands the public concerns about a 27-month-old war that has killed more than 1,700 Americans and 12,000 Iraqi civilians and cost $200 billion (€165.6bn). But he argued that the sacrifice "is worth it."

He offered no shift in course in Iraq and said he did not believe it necessary to send more troops. US forces in Iraq total just under about 140,000 and they constitute the bulk of the coalition fighting force.

Sen John McCain maintained that "one of the very big mistakes early on was that he didn't have enough troops on the ground."

Sen John Kerry, Bush's Democratic opponent in last year's presidential election, said that the borders of Iraq "are porous" and said "we don't have enough troops" there.

Sen Joseph Biden also disputed Bush's notion: "There's not enough force on the ground now to mount a real counterinsurgency."

Bush's speech marked the first anniversary of the transfer of power from the US-led coalition to Iraq's interim government. The president cited advances in the past year, including the January elections, infrastructure improvements and training of Iraqi forces.

Iraqis were divided over Bush's rejection of a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, which came as insurgents bent on starting a civil war blew up a natural gas pipeline and killed a police officer.

A former Sunni Arab Cabinet minister also formed a political front to represent the demands of an umbrella group of insurgents demanding a timetable for US troop withdrawal and an end to all military offensives in Iraqi cities.

"Iraq cannot be stable if the American and coalition forces left it because Iraqi forces don't have the required level of training to protect the country," said Baghdad University engineering professor Moayad Yasin al-Samaraie.

But other Iraqis still believe the presence of about 138,000 US troops is an occupation force preventing local officials from fully controlling internal affairs.