US 'can send troops to Iraq in a minute'

[QuietStorm]

US 'can send troops to Iraq in a minute' Baghdad: The United States has said it is ready to send more troops to Iraq "in a minute" if its top commander in the region asks for them, as Turkey and Iran told the occupying forces in Iraq they must restore order in their volatile neighbour.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he was ready to send more troops to Iraq but the chief of Central Command, General John Abizaid, has not asked for them.

Rumsfeld's comments came amid growing criticism that the US force there is not large enough to bring the country under control and end a surge of attacks and bombings by anti-US forces.

"I can tell you that if General Abizaid recommended it, it would happen in a minute. But he has not recommended it," Rumsfel told reporters after a "town hall" meeting with troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

For her part, US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice preached patience to an increasingly worried US public over the situation in Iraq.

"We must remain patient," she said in a speech in San Antonio, Texas. "When Americans begin a noble cause, we finish it. We are 117 days from the end of major combat operations in Iraq. That is not very long."

http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13234067

117 days from the end of major combat operations in Iraq????