Bush confers with brass, promises to meet ‘needs’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Bush huddled with top military leaders about the Iraq war yesterday, and Pentagon officials defended efforts to rid the Iraqi national police of sectarian bias and corruption, even as an independent review found the force too tainted to continue.

In a 90-minute meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a secure Pentagon room dubbed “the Tank,” Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney heard from leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, who are worried about strains building on the forces — and on troops’ families — as a result of lengthy and repeated tours in Iraq.

Mr. Bush did not speak in person after the meeting, but he issued a statement saying he is committed to giving the military “all it needs to meet the challenges of this new century.” He also asked lawmakers to reserve judgment about the best next move in Iraq until a report in two weeks from the U.S.’s top general there.

In a fresh sign of U.S. frustration with the Iraqi government in Baghdad, a senior U.S. commander said in an Associated Press interview that he is aggravated by the slow pace of action by Iraq’s central government to ensure that its security forces are properly led, supplied and equipped on the battlefield.

“I have not seen any improvement really in the year I’ve been here in that regard,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq. He said the Iraqi army is doing “pretty well” in fighting the insurgency alongside U.S. troops, but they are not getting sufficient support from Baghdad.

“Progress is slower than it should be inside the [Iraqi] army in particular” with regard to proper support and direction from national leaders in Baghdad, Gen. Mixon said by telephone, adding that the problem lies in a combination of bureaucratic obstacles and sectarian-based decisions about army leadership appointments.

Two independent assessments of the situation in Iraq already have been previewed this week — the latest finding that Iraq’s national police are so corrupt and influenced by sectarianism that the corps should be scrapped and replaced with a smaller force.

An independent commission established by Congress to study Iraq’s security forces will recommend starting over and reshaping the troubled 25,000-member police organization with a more elite force, a defense official said yesterday. He said the report was more positive about progress being made by the Iraqi army.