Reid: Brief Troop Increase OK in Iraq

Photo made available by the U.S. marines Saturday Dec. 16, 2006 shows U.S. Marines provide security, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Deguzman, a 23-year-old Navy corpsman from Santa Rosa, Calif., tending to 2nd Lt. Samuel Joiners wounds received from an improvised explosive device blast while patrolling in Anah, Anbar province, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006. The Marines and sailors, part of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Company A, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, have spent nearly three months conducting security operations to Rawah and Anah, two cities along the Euphrates River about 200 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Lance Cpl. Nathaniel F. Sapp, U.S. Marines) (Lance Cpl. Nathaniel F Sapp - AP)

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said any proposal to send more troops should only follow a political solution that will end civil unrest. "The president and others who support the surge have it exactly backwards," Biden said during a speech in Manchester, N.H.

Powell said if more troops were proposed, commanders would need to make their mission clear, determine whether they can accomplish it and what size force is appropriate. "We have to be very, very careful in this instance not just to grab a number out of the air," Powell said.

He noted that the Iraqi leadership wants to take control of security for Baghdad. While saying he does not know if that is possible now, "This is the time to say to them, `Fine, you think you can do that. Show us not only the political will to do that, show us the political means you're going to use.'"

Increasing troops would run counter to recent recommendations by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which set a goal of withdrawing combat troops by early 2008 in support of more aggressive regional diplomacy.

Powell said that U.S. troops should not act as policemen. He described the active U.S. Army as "about broken," with a shortage of equipment, officers going on repetitive tours and gaps in military coverage elsewhere in the world.

"The current active Army is not large enough and the Marine Corps is not large enough for the kinds of missions they're being asked to perform," he said. "And the Congress has a serious task ahead of it, to make sure that the Army and the Marine Corps get the funds they need to sustain themselves and to sustain their equipment and their ammunition."

Asked if victory was possible, Powell said: "If victory means you have gotten rid of every insurgent, you have peace throughout the country, I don't see that in the cards right now. What we are going to have to do is try to bring a sense of order and security to the country, even if there continues to be low-level violence and insurgency."

He said such a victory must increasingly become the responsibility of the Iraqi leadership.

"If they can't pull it off, if they can't demonstrate the political will and means to go after the militias, to create a military force that is answerable and confident in the government, and to root out the corruption that exists in the police forces _ if they are unable to do that, the United States is not going to be able to do it for them," Powell said.

Reid spoke on ABC's "This Week," Kennedy was on "Fox News Sunday," Powell appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and Reed and al-Hashemi were on "Late Edition" on CNN.