Washington, July 02: Two months after President George W. Bush declared major combat over in Iraq, the United States needs more troops on the ground and should accept any foreign help it can get to crush resistance and start real nation-building, military analysts said on Tuesday. Since May 1, at least 25 US troops have been killed in hostile circumstances in Iraq, in a conflict experts say is fast becoming a low-level guerrilla war -- a description rejected by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "The war has moved into a disturbing new phase, a guerrilla, counter-insurgency phase. We need to adapt," said retired Army Gen. Dan Christman, a former Pentagon planner.
Six more US soldiers were wounded on Tuesday and a fatal blast at a mosque fueled Muslim anger toward US forces.

At home, US confidence in the war has plunged, according to a new poll that showed 56 percent of respondents said things were going well for U.S. troops in Iraq, compared to 70 percent a month ago and 86 percent during the week of May 7.
Christman and other military analysts said the United States needed to adapt by getting more boots on the ground to deter attacks and to enable politicians to focus on nation-building and win over a distrustful Iraqi population.
Our army is absolutely stretched thin and we ought to be reaching out to all of those countries who are offering to send troops -- the Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, the Indians, and NATO -- I'm not sure why we have been reluctant to pick up a NATO offer," said the retired general.

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NATO's role in Iraq so far has been agreeing to provide logistics help for up to 7,500 Polish troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq this summer.


Christman said the presence of other flags would boost U.S. legitimacy during the crucial reconstruction phase, which should focus on the economy and getting oil pumping again.


Bureau Report