Rumsfeld Plays Defense

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has flatly denied reports that he rejected requests from U.S. military planners for additional troops for the war in Iraq.

"The planners are in the Central Command. They come up with their proposals and I think you'll find that if you ask anyone who's been involved in the process from the central command that every single thing they've requested has in fact happened," Rumsfeld told "Fox News Sunday."

The Washington Post reported that some current and former U.S. military officers were blaming Rumsfeld for what they consider the inadequate troop strength on the ground in Iraq. They charged that civilian leaders "micromanaged" the war plan and disregarded the recommendations of military leaders.

Rumsfeld's office "vetoed the priority and sequencing of joint forces into the region – as it was requested by the war fighters – and manipulated it to support their priorities," one officer told the Post. "When they did this, it de-synchronized not only the timing of the arrival of people and their organic equipment, but also the proper mix of combat, combat support and combat support units."

Those comments echoed recent ones by retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who commanded the 24th Infantry Division during the 1991 Gulf War. McCaffrey said that just before the war he told a senior member of Rumsfeld's staff that the defense secretary had to stop meddling and let commanders have the forces they believed they needed to fight the war.

McCaffrey said that Rumsfeld, "sat on each element for weeks and wanted an explanation for every unit called up out of the National Guard and Reserve and argued about every 42-man maintenance detachment. Why would a businessman want to deal with the micromanagement of the force? The bottom line is, a lack of trust that these Army generals knew what they were doing."

An article in The New Yorker magazine also claims that Rumsfeld rejected advice that more troops would be needed to fight a war in Iraq. The magazine says Rumsfeld insisted at least six times that the proposed number of ground troops be reduced.

Rumsfeld denied those charges and defended the war plan, which he said was developed not by him, but by Gen. Tommy Franks. "It's a good one and it's working. I think the people who are talking about it really are people who haven't seen it."

Rumsfeld acknowledged that Iraqi resistance "has been in pockets quite stiff. It's going to get more difficult as we move closer to Baghdad," where President Saddam Hussein's most trusted and battled-tested Republican Guards are waiting.

"I would suspect that the most dangerous and difficult days are still ahead of us," he said.

Rumsfeld refused to say when the fighting might cease.

"We've never had a timetable. We've always said it could days, weeks or months and we don't know. And I don't think you need a timetable," Rumsfeld said Sunday.

"It's been going on nine days. It's a little early for post-mortems," he said.

An additional 100,000 U.S. forces are currenlty being deployed to join the 290,000 coalition forces already in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon insists the new deployment was planned months ago.