The US Joint Chiefs of Staff are recommending a shift in the military focus in Iraq from battling insurgents to strengthening Iraqi forces along with a new emphasis on resolving political and economic issues, it was reported today.
The Washington Postreported that the top defence officials gave their assessment of what the military can and cannot do in Iraq during a meeting with President Bush at the Pentagon yesterday.
The military chiefs do not favour a troop buildup in Iraq but see supporting and strengthening the Iraqi army as pivotal to stabilisation, the Postsaid, citing sources familiar with the officials' thinking.
The chiefs were also pressing for a much greater US effort on political reconciliation and economic reconstruction, especially new jobs programmes, the report said.
Facing growing pressure to shift war strategy, Mr Bush has been reviewing Iraq policy with senior US officials and outside experts.
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, lead by former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, last week recommended that the administration accelerate training of Iraqi forces and pull back US combat troops by early 2008.
General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, is reviewing a plan calling for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities to a handful of US bases and turn over day-to-day combat duty to the Iraqi army, the Washington Postreported.
The report said he was still considering whether to request more troops, possibly as part of an expanded training mission to help strengthen the Iraqi army.