US army 'is too stretched to defeat Iraq rebels'

telegraph: The United States army has become a "thin green line" stretched so taut that it cannot defeat the Iraqi insurgency, a Pentagon-funded study said yesterday.

The document strikes at the heart of the Bush administration's military strategy, and will give ammunition to critics who say that America has too few men under arms.

Donald Rumsfeld defended the army saying it was 'battle hardened'

The report's author, retired Lt Col Andrew Krepinevich, a Vietnam veteran and former adviser to three defence secretaries, says the decision to reduce troop numbers in Iraq was an admission that the military was overstretched.

If the 500,000 strong force does not win its "race against time", leaders "risk breaking the force in the form of a catastrophic decline" in recruitment and re-enlistment. Read more