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"We are now into '07-'09 in our planning," said
Schoomaker.
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WASHINGTON,
August 21, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As Iraqi
politicians battle to draft a constitution seen as a precursor for
early US pullout from the occupied country, the US army’s chief of
staff said they plan to keep the current number of soldiers in Iraq,
estimated at some 140,000, for at least four more years.
"We
are now into '07-'09 in our planning," Gen. Peter Schoomaker told
the Associated Press in an exclusive interview.
Schoomaker
said he was confident the army could provide the current number of
forces to fight the "insurgency" for many more years.
He
added that the army has already completed work on the set of combat
and support units that will be rotated into Iraq over the coming year
for 12-month tours of duty.
He
said the US army is prepared for the "worst case" in terms
of the required level of troops in Iraq.
"We're
staying 18 months to two years ahead of ourselves" in planning
which units will be provided to meet the commanders' needs."
Schoomaker's
comments came as Iraqi politicians continue their uphill effort to
draft the new constitution which is seen as key to the country’s
political transition and early pullout of US-led occupation troops.
Sharp
differences remain on federalism, the role of Islam and the sharing of
oil wealth, some of the key planks of the first post-Saddam charter
which is now due to be put to parliament on Monday, August 22, after
an August 15 deadline was missed.
The
US on Saturday dropped its opposition to enshrining Islam as
"the" main source of legislation and not just "a"
main source despite fierce opposition from the Kurds.
The
Kurds are also keen for language to be included in the new charter
allowing them the right to self-determination, which would effectively
allow them to secede from Iraq at some point in the future.
Growing
Discontent
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"The present course will lead us to disaster," said Cleland.
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In
the United States, the public are showing more discontent with
President George W. Bush’s handling of Iraq, with high-profile
protests during his ranch vacation and new poll results showing nearly
six in 10 Americans worried about the outcome of the war.
Asked
whether the United States was meeting its objectives in Iraq, 56
percent of those polled said it was not and 39 percent said it was,
Reuters reported.
The
poll is to be published in next month's issue of Foreign Affairs,
the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations.
August
has been the deadliest month for the US occupation troops in Iraq with
at least 42 fatalities thus far.
According
to Pentagon figures, some 1,800 US troops, mostly from the army, have
died since the beginning of the invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq in
March 2003.
Bush
launched Saturday a counter-offensive defending the occupation as a
way of protecting Americans from another 9/11 attack.
"Our
troops know that they're fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere
to protect their fellow Americans from a savage enemy," Bush said
in his weekly radio address.
"They
know that if we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to
face them one day in our own cities and streets, and they know that
the safety and security of every American is at stake in this
war," he argued.
Max
Cleland, a former Democratic senator from Georgia who lost three limbs
in the Vietnam war, warned that Bush's course "will lead us to
disaster."
"We
are running out of time. We need a strategy to win in Iraq or an exit
strategy to leave," he said. "More of the same just means
more precious blood spilled in the desert."
Cindy
Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, became a symbol for
anti-war protesters after camping near Bush's ranch in Texas since
August 6.
She
is demanding a meeting with the president to ask him what "noble
cause" her 24-year-old son, Casey, died for last year.
Sheehan's
supporters have vowed to stay near the ranch after she had to return
to California on Thursday, August 18, to look after her mother who had
a stroke.
