Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has confirmed that shortly before L. Paul Bremer III left his post as top US official in Iraq in June 2004, Bremer sent him a memo calling for more troops to confront the insurgency. The issue has come up now since Bremer is on a round of media sessions, following release of his new book in which he says he made repeated attempts to get the US to up the number of troops. Rumsfeld told reporters late last week that he considered it a “reasonable proposal from a reasonable person.” However, he said that he and the Joint Chiefs and field commanders did not agree with Bremer. Current JCS Chairman, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, added, “We did a very thorough analysis” of Bremer’s recommendation.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
