WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is sending a retired general to Iraq to evaluate the development of Iraqi security forces, a centerpiece of the US strategy to defeat a growing insurgency and ultimately bring US forces home, Pentagon spokesmen said Friday.
The mission, first reported by The New York Times, reflected administration`s deepening concern over the situation in Iraq where insurgents have mounted an intensifying campaign to derail January 30 elections.
The Times said retired General Gary Luck`s review will be "open ended" and include a broader look at US military operations, including US troop levels and the strategy for fighting the insurgency.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Luck`s primary task was to assess the efforts to train and field Iraqi security forces, whose halting performance has compared unfavorably with an Iraqi insurgency that appears to be growing in strength and sophistication.
"The emphasis here is evaluating all aspects of Iraqi security force development," Whitman said.
"Obviously, he (Luck) has a tremendous amount of expertise and understanding of coalition operations, and if he can offer commanders other observations and insight I`m sure he will," Whitman added.
Rumsfeld`s decision to send Luck arose from discussions with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, and his top commanders over forces in Iraq, General John Abizaid and General George Casey, officials said.
"Everybody thought it was prudent and that`s why I was a little taken aback by the Times story this morning as though there was some sense alarm," said Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon`s chief spokesman.
"We`ve done this on so many occasions. We sent five or six assessment teams in the spring," he said. "It was just another one of those operations, to have a fresh set of eyes look at Iraqi security force development, look at any insights any guidance, any suggestions, recommendations."
Development of a viable Iraqi security force is central to the US strategy in Iraq, so Luck`s findings will have broad implications for the US military presence there.
Scaling back -- and ultimately withdrawing -- the 150,000-strong US force there depends on fielding Iraqi forces capable of defeating the insurgency and defending the country.
President George W. Bush, who acknowledged problems with the Iraqi security forces for the first time at a news conference December 20, told reporters Friday a successful strategy required not just elections but a government that can defend itself.
"And that`s precisely why the assessment team is going to Iraq: to make sure that, at this historic moment in the history of Iraq, there is a focused, determined strategy to help the new government to stand up the forces necessary to defend themselves," he said.
Luck, a former commander of US forces in Korea, was an informal adviser to General Tommy Franks during the US-led invasion of Iraq and a leader in past "lessons learned" efforts by the military.
His mission comes amid intensifying violence as insurgents try to derail January 30 elections to a national assembly that will name an interim government and write a constitution, which will set the stage for elections at the end of next year.
Nine US soldiers were killed in Iraq Thursday, seven of them in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit by a powerful roadside bomb in northwest Baghdad.
But Iraqi election workers, government officials, police and national guard have increasingly been the target of a violent intimidation campaign that US commanders acknowledge has been difficult to counter.
Since the US elections, the conduct of the war has been the subject of growing criticism within Republican circles as well as among Democrats.
Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser under the president`s father, warned Thursday that the Iraq elections "rather than turning out to be a promising turning point, have the great potential for deepening the conflict."
Scowcroft, a retired general, said predicted sharper ethnic divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims after the elections and a slide into "incipient civil war."
US commanders have been more upbeat about the conditions in Iraq, while acknowledging that they face a remorseless enemy.
Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, a top commander in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad Thursday delaying the elections was the wrong thing to do.
"I do not see any advantage to a delay," he said. "In fact, I think there is a greater chance of civil war with a delay than without one."
01/07/2005 20:25 GMT - AFP