U.S. Lawmakers Want International Forces in Iraq
Updated 1:51 PM ET June 29, 2003
By Lori Santos
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An international force of up to 60,000 troops is needed in Iraq to halt the continuing violence, which will escalate if left unchecked, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden warned on Sunday.
On the "Fox News Sunday," the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, "I think we need somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 other troops."
"I want to see French, German, I want to see Turkish patches on people's arms sitting on the street corners, standing there in Iraq," Biden said. "...We've got to get over this ideological fixation on the part of Mr. (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld and (Vice President Dick) Cheney of not letting the Europeans and NATO come in."
Biden returned recently from a trip to Iraq, where steady attacks have targeted Americans since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1. At least 22 Americans have been killed by hostile fire.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who also made the trip, said the continuing attacks would be "the jarring gong" that forces the U.S. administration to seek international assistance, including "more United Nations involvement and more Arab involvement."
"Time is not on our side. Every day that ticks by we are losing ground," Hagel said on CNN's "Late Edition" program. "...All the more reason we need help."
Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and another member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said extra troops were urgently needed.
"I don't think we have months. I think we've got weeks to turn this around," Dodd told the CBS "Face the Nation" program. "And the people on the ground know it. Our military people are exhausted.
'SECOND ARMY'
"... We need to get that second army in place over there. We need to invite others around the region as well as the world to help us do that. We're not doing that and the longer we wait, the greater risk is going to be posed by Iraq," Dodd said.
The lawmakers spoke after a week of particularly intense ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. Another explosion in Baghdad on Sunday targeted a U.S. convoy. Biden said the status of U.S. troops there was "in peril. The war is still on."
He said he had been assured NATO was ready to join the U.S. and British troops in Iraq and that "NATO should be in."
The Delaware Democrat said the U.S. troops he spoke with felt shortchanged by Washington's failure "to expand this responsibility internationally. They all understand it."
"One general I spoke with said. 'Look senator, this is a fairly sophisticated group... It's the old Fedayeen, we believe, and it's the old Republican Guard and they are beginning to mobilize and organize."'
While Biden said he did not believe a coordinated central network was in place, the attacks were clearly being organized by "serious military people."
"It is increasingly becoming bolder and increasingly becoming more coordinated," he asserted. "...To the extent that we continue to try to own this all ourselves, I think, this will increase."
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and member of the Armed Services Committee, said, "We need help from our friends and allies, India, Pakistan, other friends of ours, including our European friends."
"Whether we need additional (U.S.) troops or not, I don't know," McCain added. "But I do know this, that a lot of our soldiers are getting very tired."
