WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (AFP) - The White House suggested Tuesday that Paul Bremer, the former civilian administrator in Iraq, had never raised concerns about the number of US troops there during talks with President George W. Bush.
But comments from White House spokesman Scott McClellan fell short of a flat denial that Bremer had discussed troop levels with US leaders. Bremer has said he did raise his worries.
McClellan said: "They met on a regular basis, I don't remember that Ambassador Bremer ever talked about that, but we never got into the habit of reading out any of those discussions."
The spokesman went on: "Ambassador Bremer himself has also repeatedly said that he is not a military planner and when the issue of troops level arose, he refered to military commanders in the field for these decisions.
"The president looks to the secretary of defense and his military commanders to make those determinations regarding troop levels and what resources are needed. If they ever asked for, or do ever ask for more troops levels and resources then we make sure they have those troops and resources.
McClellan said that Bremer "reported to the secretary of defense and the determinations the president makes are based on the secretary of defense and the military commanders."
In a speech Monday, Bremer said the United States never had enough ground troops in Iraq to establish firm control, contradicting assertions by Bush that the US military had what it needed to win the war.
"We never had enough troops on the ground," Bremer told a conference. He said the lack of adequate patrolling after the fall of Baghdad had resulted in what he called "horrid" looting.
"We paid a big price for not stopping it, because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said.