US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the rest of the Bush administration may be undecided on whether to send more troops to Iraq, but several soldiers he met with at Camp Victory in Baghdad yesterday morning here said extra forces would help.

"Sir I think we need to just keep doing what we're doing," special private class (Pfc) Jason T. Green, with the 101st Military Intelligence Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, told Gates during a breakfast session with about 15 US soldiers.

"I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi Army trained up."

The troops may be somewhat at odds with military commanders, who worry that rushing thousands more Americans to the battlefront could prompt Iraqis to slow their effort to take control of their country.

Those concerns are "clearly a consideration" in mapping out future strategy, Gates said.

Just days into his new job as defence chief, Gates planned meetings in Baghdad with Iraqi government officials yesterday, after a day of talks with his military commanders on Wednesday.

His hour-long question-and-answer session with troops over scrambled eggs yesterday was largely spent gathering insights from those closest to the action.

When he asked them whether adding forces would help, he got a roomful of nods.

"More troops would help us integrate the Iraq Army into patrols more," said Pfc Cassandra Wallace, from the 10th Mountain Division.

The soldiers also told him they think the Iraqi Army is getting better, but that it should be bigger and that many of the Iraqis are still not showing up for duty.

Gates, who later helicoptered to Balad Air Base west of Baghdad for a special operations briefing, did not tip his hand much to the soldiers, who were from the 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division.

But he said US logistics and support troops are likely to be in Iraq for a lot longer than the combat forces as efforts continue to stabilize the country. And saying Iran and Syria are playing a very negative role in the violence in Iraq, he emphasized that "figuring out the regional context is very important."

Pentagon wants US$99.7b for wars

The Defence Department wants the White House to seek an additional US$99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press.

The military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for those wars to about US$170 billion.

Overall, the war in Iraq has cost about US$350 billion. Combined with the conflict in Afghanistan and operations against terrorism elsewhere, the cost has topped US$500 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The additional funds, if approved, would push this year's cost of the war in Iraq to about US$50 billion over last year's record. In September, Congress approved an initial US$70 billion for the current budget year, which began October 1.

Source: China Daily