'More troops needed' after Iraq power transfer

American leaders, who have frequently warned that the situation in Iraq will get worse, now believe the violence will continue for some time after the June 30 political transition date.

That could mean the need for more US troops, the commander of US forces in the Middle East says.

President George Bush yesterday acknowledged that Iraq could remain dangerous and unstable after the transfer of political power.

“It’s tough work there now because killers want to stop progress,” Bush said following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a strong ally in the war.

“It will be tough work after sovereignty is transferred because there will still be people there trying to derail the election progress.”

Earlier, testifying before a Senate panel, General John Abizaid predicted that the violence would probably continue – and perhaps get worse in the second half of the year when a yet-to-be-named Iraqi interim government will be put in charge.

“It could very well be more violent than we are seeing today, so it’s possible that we might need more forces,” Abizaid said, adding that he hoped more countries would contribute troops.

There are now about 155,000 coalition troops in Iraq, of which about 135,000 are American.

The Army is struggling to find enough forces to maintain the 135,000 level, so if Abizaid decides even more are needed, the strain would be enormous.

US administration officials had stuck for months to the publicly expressed hope that June 30 would be a turning point, not just in terms of moving Iraq toward democracy but also in improving security.

The insurgents were stepping up attacks, officials often said, because they believed that their best hope for chasing out US forces was in the period before June 30.

The insurgency began to intensify in late March, highlighted by the killing and mutilation of four American private security contractors in the city of Fallujah on March 31.

In April, more than 130 US troops died – by far the highest monthly death toll since US forces invaded in April 2003. So far this month, at least 47 additional troops have died.

Earlier this month, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld first mentioned the possibility that the violence would continue, or even grow worse after June.

“So you’re going to have a period of uncertainty from now, and you’re also going to have a period of increased attacks,” he said.

Rumsfeld said it was inevitable that the violence would last at least until December.

Abizaid said yesterday that although he was satisfied with the number of combat troops and armoured vehicles available in Iraq, he was “not comfortable” with the support structure for them.

“There are certain types of troops that we don’t have enough of and we still don’t have enough of them and we got to figure out how to get them,” he said.

He mentioned as examples the military police, military intelligence and civil affairs troops who are key to stabilising a broken country like Iraq.