Bush sending 'more troops than necessary'
The outgoing top US general in Iraq told politicians that president George Bush has ordered thousands more troops than are needed to clamp down on violence in Baghdad.
Gen. George Casey quickly added he understood how his recently confirmed successor, Lt Gen. David Petraeus, could want the full complement of 21,500 additional troops that Bush has ordered to Iraq.
Casey said they could “either reinforce success, maintain momentum or put more forces in a place where the plans are not working".
The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, delivered to the White House yesterday, described an increasingly perilous situation in which the US has little control and further deterioration is possible, The Washington Post reported.
A two-page summary of the report was scheduled to be released publicly today.
The 90-page classified report comes to no conclusion over the question of whether civil war has engulfed Iraq, unidentified sources familiar with the document told the Post.
It says that al-Qaida activities remain a problem but cites Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence as the primary source of conflict and the most immediate threat to US goals, the Post reported.
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