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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 31, 2003

US to create stability force for Iraq's rebuilding

The US Defense Department is considering creating a military force for stability and reconstruction operations in Iraq, the Pentagon said in a press release on Tuesday.


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The US Defense Department is considering creating a military force for stability and reconstruction operations in Iraq, the Pentagon said in a press release on Tuesday.

"We're going to need this capability. And we're going to need it repeatedly," the press release quoted retired Navy Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski as saying in a recent interview in his capacity as chief of the department's Office of Force Transformation.

The ever-changing post-Sept.11 security environment and past lessons made a strong case for stability and reconstruction operations, said Cebrowski, one of the department's chief architects in the effort to transform the US military.

A stabilization and reconstruction force most likely would be used under conditions that now exist in Iraq -- between the end ofmajor combat operations and the formation of a stable government, he said.

But the need for such a force would not be limited to just that one scenario, he added. "The need for stability operations could happen at any time, and in places we haven't necessarily considered," he noted.

A stability and reconstruction force would include such elements as combat arms, military police, civil affairs, military intelligence, psychological affairs, engineers and explosive ordnance teams, he said.

The idea reportedly emerged as US forces in Iraq were struggling to deal with insurgents and other postwar challenges, and help from other countries has fallen far short of initial US expectations.

The Pentagon, facing widespread criticism for poor postwar planning and concerns that US combat troops may be deeply involvedin peacekeeping in Iraq, was driven to consider alternative ways of organizing troops for postwar operations, a Washington Post report said last month.


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