Growth in US troops possible for Iraq

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told visiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates that he would let US generals decide whether there is a need for a surge in US troops deployed in Iraq, according to Iraqi officials with knowledge of the meeting.

In a press conference, Gates said his conversation with the Iraqi prime minister and defense minister included "no numbers. . . . We were really talking in broader terms."

Iraq's defense minister, Abdul Qadir, later indicated general acceptance of an idea that has emerged as one of the chief options President Bush is considering as he reevaluates Iraq policy. "I did not say no to an increase in the number of US troops," Qadir said in a brief interview after the meeting at Maliki's residence in the Green Zone. "If we need it, we need it."

But after seeing Gates, Maliki met with Shi'ite members of his alliance where divisions unfolded over whether more US troops were needed, said Sami al-Askari, a Shi'ite member of Parliament who is close to Maliki. Askari, who attended the second meeting, said there was a general feeling that "there's no need for further troops."

Gates said that he "emphasized . . . the steadfastness of American support" for Iraq during his meeting with Maliki. The message he heard back from Maliki, he said, is that the Iraqi government wants to take the lead role in solving the country's security problems, including in the most violent zones in and around Baghdad.

Gates has billed his trip to Iraq, launched the day after he became defense secretary earlier this week, as key to formulating his recommendations for President Bush on how to re shape the US approach in Iraq. But in his public comments he gave little indication of how his two days of talks with generals, enlisted soldiers, and Iraqi officials have affected his views.

Also yesterday, radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to allow supporters to rejoin the Iraqi government after a three-week boycott, officials close to the militia leader said, as political rivals pushed to form a coalition without him.

Shi'ites from Parliament's largest bloc met in their holy city of Najaf to try to forge a new coalition across sectarian lines -- one that won't include Sadr's supporters. They hoped, in part, to pressure Sadr to rejoin the political process and rein in his Mahdi Army militia, which is blamed for much of Iraq's sectarian violence.

As politicians and generals talked, the killing continued.

Fighting in Iraq claimed the lives of three more American servicemen, the US military announced, bringing the US toll closer to 3,000. In December, 71 American personnel have been killed; at the current rate, the number of US combat deaths this month could meet or exceed the previous monthly record for 2006.

The US military said that a Marine assigned to the First Brigade, First Armored Division died Wednesday in Anbar, a province west of Baghdad where insurgents are strong. A soldier assigned to Regimental Combat Team Seven died there Tuesday.

A roadside bomb killed an American soldier Wednesday and wounded three others south of the Iraqi capital, the military said.

At least 2,959 American personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Yesterday a suicide bomber killed 15 people and wounded 15 in a crowd of police volunteers in eastern Baghdad, Iraqi police and the US military said.

The dead included three police officers and 12 recruits. Bodies were strewn on gurneys and on the ground outside a hospital for hours, covered in blue sheeting as commuters passed .

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.