Secretary of State Colin Powell told President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month that there were too few troops in Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
Citing people familiar with records of the private talks, the newspaper said Powell's advice came 10 days after the end of the presidential campaign, during intense discussions on Iraq between Bush and Blair.
Less than three weeks after the November 12, White House meeting, the Pentagon said it would boost the US military presence in Iraq by 12,000 troops, the newspaper said.
The Pentagon announced on December 1 that a force of 1,38,000 US troops currently in Iraq would be increased by the end of December to 1,50,000, the highest level since the war began in March 2003, to improve security for scheduled January 30, Iraqi elections.
The Washington Post said accounts differ about the details of Powell's remarks with one US official quoted as saying the outgoing secretary of state flatly stated: "We don't have enough troops. We don't control the terrain."
But a senior State Department official familiar with the exchange said that Powell was less pointed, raising the issue in the context of continuing conversations on the turmoil in the Sunni Triangle and the Iraqi elections, the newspaper said.
{{/usCountry}}But a senior State Department official familiar with the exchange said that Powell was less pointed, raising the issue in the context of continuing conversations on the turmoil in the Sunni Triangle and the Iraqi elections, the newspaper said.
{{/usCountry}}"They were talking about the security situation," the official was quoted as saying. "They asked Powell his opinion."
White House and State Department spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.
Powell submitted his resignation on the day of the Blair meeting, according to the newspaper.
Bush and Blair had in recent months a series of videoconferences that were considered so sensitive that the transcripts of the meetings were destroyed after other senior officials read them, according to the report.
The Washington Post said disclosure of the sessions indicates that, privately, there has been more concern at the top levels of the Bush administration about the conduct of the US mission in Iraq than officials have shown publicly.