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General Tommy Franks, the US commander of the Iraq war, said Monday that despite increasing attacks against American troops in Iraq, the United States will not send extra troops there.
"The sense that I have right now is that it's not time to send in additional troops," Franks said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" from US Central Command in Tampa, Florida.
"What we want to do to, is we want to continue to move forward with establishing security by working with the Iraqis," said Franks, who was retiring Monday after 36 years in uniform.
Franks said rising casualties of the US forces in Iraq was a necessary cost for pursuit of "a worthy cause."
Three American soldiers have been killed in attacks in Baghdad in a 24-hour period, and four other soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack on their convoy Monday. Some 29 US soldiers have been killed in attacks since US President George W. Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1
There are some 145,000 Americans and 12,000 coalition forces in Iraq now. The Pentagon said up to 20,000 international soldiers will go to Iraq for help.
The US Central Command is assessing needed troop strength in Iraq and will report to the Pentagon soon.
(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2003)
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