General's assessment in Iraq: 'I do not have enough soldiers'

General's assessment in Iraq: 'I do not have enough soldiers'
By Aamer Madhani
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 12, 2007

WASHINGTON -- With the final troops in President Bush's buildup flowing into Iraq, the U.S. military commander overseeing much of the north-central part of the country said Friday that he doesn't have enough troops for the mission in restive Diyala province.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said he has asked Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, for more troops to help pacify the increasingly violent Al Qaeda hotbed northeast of Baghdad.

"I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala province to get that security situation moving," Mixon said. "We have plans to put additional forces in that region."

Mixon, who spoke to Pentagon reporters during a video conference from a U.S. base in Tikrit, would not say how many more troops he needs. But he said he recently proposed a plan to Odierno to bolster troop levels. He said that Odierno told him that additional troops would be deployed to the province as they become available.

"I believe once we see those plans through, that the situation in Diyala will get to the level that we want it to get to, and that's that the Iraqi security forces can begin to take responsibility for the security in that area," said Mixon, who commands a large swath of northern Iraq, including Diyala.

The general's remarks came as the U.S. military faces increased scrutiny from congressional Democrats over whether the so-called surge of nearly 30,000 more U.S. troops in Iraq is having any significant effect.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has promised to report to Congress in September on how the security plan is working.

Mixon would not comment directly on whether he thought the surge would be needed into next year, as some commanders have predicted, but he warned against a quick pullout.

"You know, we just can't think about pulling out of here just like that," he said. "We need to have a long-term commitment in some form or fashion to ensure security in the region."

Diyala, long a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity, has seen more violence since Bush announced in January that he would send more troops to Iraq, primarily to Baghdad and the western Anbar province. Mixon currently has about 3,500 troops in Diyala.

The past week has been particularly difficult in Diyala. The U.S. military announced Friday that an American soldier was killed Thursday in an explosion in the province. On Tuesday, a U.S. soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting attack. And six U.S. soldiers and an embedded Russian journalist were killed Sunday when a bomb destroyed their vehicle.

The heightened violence has been spurred by a recent increase in the U.S. military's operational tempo but is also the result of insurgents in Baghdad fleeing the U.S. deployment in the capital, Mixon said.

Mixon was also critical of the provincial and national governments, saying the Iraqis have proved to be largely ineffective. He said the officials have been too slow in providing necessary logistical support. The poor performance has worsened the security situation.

The general said he was particularly concerned about the ability of Iraqi security forces to protect oil pipelines that snake across his area of operation.

"Results in these particular organizations have been marginal, at best, since my arrival," Mixon said. "Our efforts to train and build capacity for them is limited, and the national ministries must step and do their job so that Iraqis can have basic services at the grass-roots level."

amadhani@tribune.com