US lawmakers call for more American troops in Iraq

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two top U.S. lawmakers on Sunday called for more American troops to be sent to Iraq, but the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that was "very unlikely."

Sens. Joseph Biden and John McCain said there were not enough U.S. forces to fend off insurgent attacks and not enough Iraqi forces are trained to take over from the 138,000 U.S. soldiers there.

Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat, said fewer than 3,000 Iraqis are fully trained to take over from their American counterparts.

"We have another probably 20 to 30 battalions out there that, with embedded U.S. military, are able to do a serious, positive job. After that, it falls off the cliff," the Delaware senator said on NBC'S "Meet the Press."

A recent U.S. military report put the number of Iraqi security forces at 171,300.

Semper Fi