American Generals Say Privately, THEY NEED 3 TIMES MORE TROOPS

Video: Commanders privately express needing
3X more troops

Raw
Story | September 12 2006

U.S. Commanders in Iraq have privately
expressed the need for an increase of three times the number of troops currently
serving in Iraq, reports Michael Ware of CNN. Officially, the military continues
to say that "we have an appropriate level of force to do what we have
to do within the confines of our mission."

Ramadi has become a base of operations for Al Qaeda.
Ware says, "Al Qaeda is almost untouched in its area of operations,
and in the city of Ramadi itself, al Qaeda fighters are constantly attacking
U.S. troops. Brigades sent to Ramadi are losing, on average, 100 American
soldiers and Marines every year. And we don't see that abating. So, here's
the heart of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and there's simply not enough troops and
no strategy to combat it."

Al Qaeda leadership enjoys near free reign in an area
north of the Euphrates which is the size of New Hampshire. The U.S. can
only deploy a few hundred troops to this area. Ware laments, "They
can do nothing to hamper al Qaeda's leadership in that area."

A full transcript follows the video.

 

TRANSCRIPT

At least seven people are dead after gunmen attacked
a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad. Police say the attackers fired six
mortar rounds and then detonated explosives around that mosque.

CNN's Michael Ware just got back from being embedded
with U.S. forces in the western Iraqi town of Ramadi. Ramadi is within the
so- called Sunni Triangle. Insurgent activity there remains strong. Gun
battles are a daily occurrence.

He joins us now from Baghdad.

Michael, good morning to you.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning.

In Ramadi, in western Al Anbar province, we see what
can only be described as a black hole in President Bush's global war on
terror. As the president is going through his series of speeches to reassure
the American people and to inform them about the success and the progress
of his war on terror, there in Al Anbar we saw that al Qaeda at its very
heart has been found, identified, yet is not being struck at.

In one of his speeches last week, the president referred
to Osama bin Laden and his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. They make it very
clear that Iraq is the centerpiece of their war against America, and that
within that centerpiece of Iraq it is Al Anbar, it is Ramadi which is the
toe hole from which they will build their base. What we know is that Al
Qaeda in Iraq uses this area as its headquarters. This is where its leaders
hide, move, plan. Yet, what is happening? America does not have enough troops
to send out there.

Al Qaeda is almost untouched in its area of operations,
and in the city of Ramadi itself, al Qaeda fighters are constantly attacking
U.S. troops. Brigades sent to Ramadi are losing, on average, 100 American
soldiers and Marines every year. And we don't see that abating.

So, here's the heart of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and there's
simply not enough troops and no strategy to combat it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Michael, you have talked to the people
on the ground there. I'm sure they probably don't say it for the record,
but how many troops do they think need in order to get a hold of this problem?

WARE: Well, officially, from Baghdad to Ramadi, the
response you will get from American commanders is that we have an appropriate
level of force to do what we have to do within the confines of our mission.
However, the key term that all of them use is "economy of force."

They say that we are applying an economy of force mission.
That in itself is an admission that they don't have the full number of troops
that they need to do what actually has to be done.

Privately, off line, what commanders, again, from Baghdad
to Ramadi, will tell you is that they need at least three times as many
troops as they currently have there now, be that Iraqi and American or,
even better, just three times as many as American troops. I mean, there's
an area there north of the Euphrates River that is used by al Qaeda's top
leadership that Osama bin Laden himself points to. It's the size of New
Hampshire.

You have only a few hundred American troops there.
They can do nothing to hamper al Qaeda's leadership in that area -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And a final thought here. To what extent
are these al Qaeda leaders in cahoots with the homegrown insurgency? And
if there is a relationship, who is taking orders from whom?

WARE: Well, this is one of the most fascinating things
about it. I mean, since the inception of this war, we have seen al Qaeda
global jihad introduced to a country where it never exists. And like a cancer,
once one cell appears, it begins to metastasize.

So what we have seen throughout the country, but particularly
in Ramadi, is al Qaeda, through its money, its motivation, its tactic, its
ideology, hijack the local fight. So in Ramadi, it's actually the al Qaeda
front line.

Al Qaeda dominates all the other groups so effectively
that it is in charge. So, this is where American Marines and soldiers go
face to face every day with the very organization that attacked the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, and yet it seems that they're being forced
to do so under-resourced and with one arm tied behind -- behind their back
-- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll leave it at that.

Michael Ware in Baghdad.