Bush 'Inclined' to Increase Military Troops

Dec. 19, 2006 — -- President Bush said he agreed with proposals to increase the overall size of the Army and Marine Corps -- a move that could relieve the stress on those forces caused by the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The increases will not provide immediate relief in those conflicts, as they will take years to take effect and would cost a lot. Plus, these increases are separate from the ongoing discussions to send additional troops to Iraq.

In an interview Tuesday with The Washington Post, Bush said, "I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops -- the Army, the Marines."

The president provided few specifics on any increases but said he has asked new Defense Secretary Robert Gates to provide some recommendations on increasing the size of both forces.

Bush added that the proposed increases were not a response to events in Iraq but a reflection that the global war on terror "is going to last for a while, and that we're going to need a military that's capable of being able to sustain our efforts."

Just last week, the Army's top general, Peter Schoomaker, told a congressional commission that the Army was at a breaking point. "As it currently stands, the Army is incapable of generating and sustaining the required forces to wage the global war on terror."

Schoomaker told the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that one option to relieve the stress would be to increase the overall size of the Army. Another proposal would provide more frequent access to its reserve forces to ease the strain on the active duty Army. "At this pace, without recurrent access to the reserve components through remobilization, we will break the active component."

Former Secretary of State and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell went further on CBS's "Face the Nation," saying, "the active Army is about broken."

Bush told The Washington Post, "I haven't heard the word 'broken,' but I've heard the word 'stressed.' … We need to reset our military. There's no question the military has been used a lot."