US soldiers in Iraq urge Gates to send more troops

FRONT-LINE TROOPS WANT REINFORCEMENTS

Gates had breakfast on Thursday with U.S. soldiers to hear their views about troop levels and the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"Sir, I think we need to just keep doing what we're doing," Specialist Jason Glenn told Gates.

"I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them (the insurgents) off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi army trained up."

None of the soldiers present said U.S. forces should be brought home, and none said current troop levels were adequate.

A senior defense official in Baghdad said U.S. commanders were concerned a surge in the number of troops would make the Iraqis feel less under pressure to take full responsibility for security.

"Look, the Iraqis are smart. They see what we do, and if we surge, they can step back," the official said.

Gates said it was not surprising troops wanted reinforcements. "We have to take into account the views of the Iraqi government the views of our own leadership, the views of our own military leadership in taking that into account."

Training and building up Iraqi security forces is a key pillar of U.S. and Iraqi hopes of transferring responsibility to Iraqi authorities and allowing U.S. troops to go home.

But in a reminder of the challenge, a suicide bomber killed 15 people and wounded another 15 at a police recruitment center in Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said.

Soldiers told Gates that Iraqi security forces were improving but that many did not show up for work.

They also cited the challenge of training Iraqis who have ties to sectarian militias and who give those groups information about upcoming operations. One soldier said members of the Iraqi army see themselves as Iraqis but that local police identify themselves as Shi'ite or Sunni Arab.

The U.S. military reported three more deaths on Thursday, two in the restive western province of Anbar and one killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan in Washington, Mariam Karouny, Claudia Parsons and Ross Colvin in Baghdad; Dan Whitcomb in California)