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November 11th, 2006 - Military
Team Undertakes a Broad Review of the Iraq War |
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Military Team Undertakes a
Broad Review of the Iraq War and the Campaign Against Terror By Michael R. Gordon New York Times November 11, 2006 Washington, Nov. 10 - Senior
military leaders have begun a broad review of strategy in Iraq and other
crisis areas in the Bush administration’s campaign against terrorism,
according to Pentagon officials. In a closely held effort,
Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has assembled a
team of some of the military’s brightest and most innovative officers and
told them to take a fresh look at Iraq and Afghanistan, among other
flashpoints. Pentagon officials said that
the team’s objective was to outline a range of options that General Pace
might draw on in advising President Bush and Robert M. Gates, selected by Mr.
Bush to become defense secretary, as the White House adjusts its strategy in
Iraq. Ideas that have been discussed include increasing the size of the Iraqi
security forces, along with the American effort to train and equip them, and
adjusting the size of the American force in Iraq. But Pentagon officials
stressed that the review extended well beyond Iraq, and that some unorthodox
ideas on how to fight terrorism were being weighed. The review reflects the
recognition that military efforts need to be part of an overall approach that
includes all aspects of American power, including diplomatic and economic. Pentagon officials said the
military review, which formally began Sept. 25, is being coordinated with the
rest of the government, but that the military team had not met with members
of the Iraq Study Group, the commission that is also looking into options for
Iraq. The creation of that commission, headed by a former secretary of state,
James A. Baker III, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, had raised the possibility that fundamental
decisions on how to proceed in Iraq might be determined largely outside of
the Pentagon. The commission is being advised by former military officers,
but none of its members have served as senior military commanders. The team involved in the
military review includes Col. H. R. McMaster, the Army officer whose 2005
operation in Tal Afar has been cited as a textbook case in how to wage
counterinsurgency in Iraq. Other military officers
include Col. Peter R. Mansoor, the director of the United States Army and
Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., who
previously commanded an Army brigade that fought the Mahdi Army militia in
2004 at Karbala. Col. Thomas C. Greenwood,
the director of the Marine Command and Staff College, who oversaw efforts to
train Iraqi security forces in Anbar, the restive province in western Iraq,
is also on the team. All told, more than a dozen military officers are on the
team, which is overseen by Capt. Michael Rogers of the Navy, who serves as a
special assistant to General Pace. Though the review has been
under way for six weeks, it has acquired special urgency as a result of the
Democratic gains in the election, President Bush’s decision to replace Donald
H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and the clamor for some kind of course
adjustment in Iraq. The goal is to finish the
review in December, but some of its interim thinking has been made available
to the military chiefs, Pentagon officials said. Initially, the Pentagon
tried to keep the existence of the review secret. But in recent days the Bush
administration has advertised its willingness to consider fresh approaches in
an effort to counter criticism that it was rigidly adhering to a faltering
strategy. General Pace referred to the review in general terms in TV
appearances today. “We have to give ourselves a
good honest scrub about what is working and what is not working, what are the
impediments to progress and what should we change about the way we are doing
it to make sure that we get to the objective that we set for ourselves,”
General Pace said in an interview with CBS. “I am looking at it with the
Joint Chiefs. We’re making our recommendations. We’re having our dialogue.” General Pace said that Gen.
George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, and General John P. Abizaid,
the head of the United States Central Command, were part of the effort. Mr. Bush is to meet Monday
with the commission headed by Mr. Baker and Mr. Hamilton. Others who will
meet with the group are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Mr. Rumsfeld;
the national intelligence director, John D. Negroponte; Gen. Michael V.
Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and Zalmay Khalilzad,
the American ambassador to Iraq. The study group is expected to issue its
recommendations around Dec. 7. Copyright 2006 The New York
Times Company External link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/world/middleeast/11pentagon.html |