350,000 Troops May Be Needed
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 10:45 pm
While U.S. troops were honing their combat skills in Kuwait today, in North Carolina, Marines were shipping out, and in Texas, more reservists received their orders.
These snapshots of a military buildup may be just the start of what could end up involving more than 350,000 troops for a war and subsequent occupation of Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned. That is a far higher number than envisioned during preliminary planning.
Sources said the National Guard and reserve callup — 56,000 troops have already been mobilized — could also grow well beyond the 263,000 used in the Persian Gulf War more than a decade ago.
The number of troops, sources said, will depend at least in part on how successful the United States is during the early phases of any war — whether the Iraqis use chemical weapons and whether there is large-scale resistance in Iraq, especially by civilians.
"In every village, every city, every government in Iraq that we move forward into, we have to establish civil order," said ABCNEWS military analyst Tony Cordesman. "And if in any of these areas there is significant instability, we have to have people on the ground."
These additional U.S. troops are intended to keep the peace, to protect rear forces and to handle the huge job of pushing supplies to the front line, as American forces march deeper and deeper into Iraq. Officials said it is quite possible that the United States will be occupying part of Iraq — needing to feed millions of people and manage many cities — while still having to fight in other parts of the country.
Call for Patience
While the Bush administration focuses on the buildup and the Jan. 27 deadline for a U.N. report on Iraqi weapons, the rest of the world is urging patience.
America's closest ally, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, while saying Iraq may have to be disarmed by force, seemed to be asking for time today.
"Let the inspectors do their task," said Blair. "I don't think there's any point, as I say, in putting an arbitrary time scale on it. But Jan. 27 is an important date."
Sources said the Bush administration is preparing to take its case for war to the United Nations soon after Jan. 27 — no matter what U.N. weapons inspectors report.
These snapshots of a military buildup may be just the start of what could end up involving more than 350,000 troops for a war and subsequent occupation of Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned. That is a far higher number than envisioned during preliminary planning.
Sources said the National Guard and reserve callup — 56,000 troops have already been mobilized — could also grow well beyond the 263,000 used in the Persian Gulf War more than a decade ago.
The number of troops, sources said, will depend at least in part on how successful the United States is during the early phases of any war — whether the Iraqis use chemical weapons and whether there is large-scale resistance in Iraq, especially by civilians.
"In every village, every city, every government in Iraq that we move forward into, we have to establish civil order," said ABCNEWS military analyst Tony Cordesman. "And if in any of these areas there is significant instability, we have to have people on the ground."
These additional U.S. troops are intended to keep the peace, to protect rear forces and to handle the huge job of pushing supplies to the front line, as American forces march deeper and deeper into Iraq. Officials said it is quite possible that the United States will be occupying part of Iraq — needing to feed millions of people and manage many cities — while still having to fight in other parts of the country.
Call for Patience
While the Bush administration focuses on the buildup and the Jan. 27 deadline for a U.N. report on Iraqi weapons, the rest of the world is urging patience.
America's closest ally, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, while saying Iraq may have to be disarmed by force, seemed to be asking for time today.
"Let the inspectors do their task," said Blair. "I don't think there's any point, as I say, in putting an arbitrary time scale on it. But Jan. 27 is an important date."
Sources said the Bush administration is preparing to take its case for war to the United Nations soon after Jan. 27 — no matter what U.N. weapons inspectors report.
I don't want to see the dumb Oscars either.