US troops in Iraq ’for five years’

Washington, July 02, 2004 - A FORCE of 145,000 US troops might be needed in Iraq for as many as five years, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Richard Myers said today.

"We can do that and we’ve got plans to do that for as long as it takes, because this will be event-driven, not time-line driven," he told PBS television.

The US military said earlier in the week it would recall about 5600 troops who already served in Iraq for support and logistics duty, and General Myers said the call-back was needed to beef up troop strength.

"We’re a 20th-century force in a 21st-century security environment," he said.

"In the meantime, we have to rely on other tools," he said.

"It will take six months, a year, a year-and-a-half, two years, three years, probably four or five years before we get this force set to have the kind of skills where we need them to do the kind of things we need to do in this security environment," he said.

"It will be events on the ground and commanders’ estimates that will help us there."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10018585%255E1702,00.html