U.S. commander in Iraq assessing necessary troop level

Story Highlights

• Commander wants to know troop level options well in advance of requests
• Gen. David Petraeus says decision is months away
• Petraeus explains his request for 2,200 additional military police
• 'Surge' of 21,500 troops decided by President Bush is under way

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Thursday he is assessing how many U.S. troops are needed there.

"It's something that we would obviously like to resolve well in advance of when you might have to make requests or take actions," Gen. David Petraeus said during his first news briefing as Multi-National Force-Iraq commander.

According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, about 140,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq as of February 5. President Bush has requested 21,500 more, but other requests have increased that number to 26,000.

Petraeus said he would wait until all of the additional U.S. and Iraqi forces are in place by early June to make an assessment. "We're some months ... from saying, 'Let's continue at this level,'" he said.

Petraeus said he has asked Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the multinational corps in Iraq, to "start laying out options" on troop levels in the effort to make a decision "early rather than as the decision starts to stare us in the face."

The commander also told reporters that his recent request to the Pentagon for 2,200 additional military police was "always anticipated."

"What has been asked for, subsequent to the combat formations, are the typical enablers that go with the combat formations," Petraeus said.

The requested 2,200 MPs, and support units totaling 2,400 soldiers, will bring the planned "surge" of U.S. forces to 26,000.

On Wednesday, Gates addressed the question of how the request for 21,500 more troops grew to 26,000.

Gates said when he testified at congressional budget hearings in January, "we said at that time that we believed that the combat support would be about 10 to 15 percent of the size of the reinforcement itself, so 10 to 15 percent of 21,500. We're in that range. The size of the combat support units at this point are about 2,400."

After the budget hearings were over, Gates said, "we sent a new commander to Iraq. And he has come back with a request for an additional couple of thousand people to help oversee detainees."

Petraeus said the additional MPs will take on duties that will include securing detention facilities and mentoring police.

The additional U.S. troops are part of a new, Iraqi-led push to secure Baghdad. Of those forces, some 4,000 Marines will be dispatched to Iraq's volatile Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

Petraeus said the Marines heading to Anbar will reinforce "positive developments out there," adding that because local al Sunni tribal leaders are now supporting U.S. forces, the province "that seemed nearly hopeless is a source of hope."

Petraeus also said in his news conference that some U.S. troops will be dispatched to Diyala province as part of the Baghdad security plan.

House Democratic leaders on Thursday proposed legislation to put conditions on war funding requested by the Bush administration. The bill could result in a deadline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by next spring. (Full story)

And he warned that military force alone will not be enough to quell the country's violent insurgency. (Full story)