WASHINGTON, 24 November 2003 — More US troops are needed in Iraq now to put down an escalating insurgency, the top Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said yesterday.

Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said if more counter-insurgency and special operations forces were deployed, US troops would be able to withdraw from the embattled country more quickly.

“There’s a direct relationship, us going in now and doing more so that we can get out earlier,” he said on “Fox News yesterday.”

“I understand it’s incredibly difficult for the president to go to the American people and say we’re going to put more troops in near term,” Biden said. “...(But) there is not enough force or the right type of force there at this moment to quell the insurgency.”

Biden spoke of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq as three more American soldiers were killed yesterday, including two who witnesses said were stabbed and had their throats slit when their car was stopped in traffic.

Since US President George W. Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1, 185 US troops have been killed in action.

Around 130,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq, the vast majority of an international coalition numbering nearly 150,000.

Biden said he was unsure how many more troops would be required, but that military planners had indicated “a different mix of troops” was needed, “more counter-insurgency folks and more special forces in there.” He also said it was unlikely enough Iraqis could be trained in time to take over security by next spring when the US is set to hand back control of the country to Iraqis.

“It’s a bit Pollyannish to think we’re going to have a couple hundred thousand Iraqis trained up by the end of this year to essentially take the place of a significant portion of US or international forces,” Biden said.

Of the Iraqis on the street now providing security, he said, “The truth is, these folks aren’t trained at all.”

On CNN’s “Late Edition,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat and presidential candidate, also blamed the Bush administration’s “lack of preparedness and strength” for “the chaos that’s there now.”

“The slashing of throats of Americans by the enemy shows how inhumane, how brutal, how dangerous the enemy is that we’re facing,” Lieberman said later. “We cannot let the insurgent enemy in Iraq win.”

“I’m outraged, and every American should be. And it should redouble our commitment to do whatever’s necessary to defeat the enemy we are facing in Iraq,” he added.