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American troops could be in Iraq for another four years: Franks
Washington, July 11: American troops could still be in Iraq four years from now, the war`s former commander told members of Congress concerned about persistent, deadly attacks.
Washington, July 11: American troops could still be in Iraq four years from now, the war's former commander told members of Congress concerned about persistent, deadly attacks.
Gen. Tommy Franks gave the stark assessment yesterday as President George W Bush conceded there is a security problem inside Iraq and the Senate expressed its own uneasiness by unanimously urging the administration to consider seeking outside help from Nato or the United Nations.
The resolution's author, Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said the administration's reluctance to enlist the French and Germans in postwar Iraq "continues to make us a target there."
Congressional critics kept up their questioning of the administration's justifications for going to war and its characterizations of the current outlook in Iraq. "I'm deeply disturbed by the kind of happy face we're trying to put on this situation," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, said during a sharp exchange with Franks, who stepped down Monday as head of the military command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan.
Much of the criticism has focused on bush's main justification for the war - that Saddam Hussein's government had chemical and biological weapons and was working to build more of them and develop nuclear bombs. No such weapons have been found in Iraq. The White House acknowledged this week that Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa was based on intelligence that turned out to be false. Bureau Report
Congressional critics kept up their questioning of the administration's justifications for going to war and its characterizations of the current outlook in Iraq. "I'm deeply disturbed by the kind of happy face we're trying to put on this situation," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, said during a sharp exchange with Franks, who stepped down Monday as head of the military command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan.
Much of the criticism has focused on bush's main justification for the war - that Saddam Hussein's government had chemical and biological weapons and was working to build more of them and develop nuclear bombs. No such weapons have been found in Iraq. The White House acknowledged this week that Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa was based on intelligence that turned out to be false. Bureau Report