Pentagon orders Iraq troop review

By Nick Childs
BBC News Pentagon correspondent

The Pentagon is worried about pre-election violence in Iraq

The Pentagon has confirmed that retired Gen Gary Luck has been asked to review overall operations in Iraq.

The news comes as a senior official revealed that the US army is likely to ask for a permanent increase of 30,000 in its strength.

US defence officials have sought to play this down as just part of an ongoing review process.

But Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has asked the general to look at the training of the Iraqi security forces.

That is critical, because handing over security to the Iraqis is key to the Pentagon's exit strategy - and this new review does seem to reflect the concern about how the security strategy is unfolding.

US military commanders acknowledge that the performance of the Iraqis is mixed, and far from being able to cut US troop numbers as it had hoped, the Pentagon now has more personnel in Iraq than ever - more than 150,000.

As a result, a senior US army official has also said the army is likely to ask for a permanent increase in its strength of 30,000 troops.

There has been a temporary increase of that number, but Donald Rumsfeld has until now resisted making that permanent - something that has been widely criticised because of the strains on the US military.