Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq 

    BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Dec. 21) -- America's top generals at Camp Victory in Iraq on Wednesday told Secretary of Defense Robert Gates they were wary of bringing in more troops. So, Thursday the secretary asked the grunts that do the fighting -- the enlisted men -- their opinion and received the same answer over and over: put more boots on the ground.

    "Sir, I think we need to just keep doing what we're doing," Spc. Jason Glenn of Mount Grove, Missouri, told Gates over breakfast.

    "I really think we need more troops here," Glenn added. "With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them (the insurgents) off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi army trained up."

    Glenn's opinions were reiterated by others who sat down with Gates to discuss a war that both the defense secretary and President George W. Bush say the United States is not winning.

    "However you characterize it, it's not good enough," Gates told the soldiers about America's progress in the war.

    Gates is reaching out for advice on the war effort.

    In his first week after replacing Donald Rumsfeld, he met with U.S. commanders and the Iraqi defense minister on Wednesday and is due to meet with other Iraqi officials Thursday, including the prime minister.

    Defense officials traveling with the defense secretary said they had no idea how the soldiers who met with Gates were selected from the 134,000 troops in Iraq. The foot soldiers¡¯views are among those Gates is pondering as he prepares recommendations for Bush.

    Gates has given little indication of what strategies he will recommend to the president after returning from Iraq.

    But he is openly discussing the possibility of a short-term increase, or "surge," in U.S. troops to gain control over security in Baghdad.

    Gates¡¯one-hour breakfast with the 15 regular soldiers, none of whom were officers, was largely a question-and-answer session, with the defense secretary asking the majority of questions and seeking advice on troop levels, a timeline for training Iraqis, sectarian leanings within the Iraqi security forces and the "caliber and discipline" of both Iraqi soldiers and their military leaders.

    No soldier present said the American forces should be brought home, and none said current troop levels were adequate, as some commanders have argued.

    Gates stressed the importance of reconstruction efforts that could quickly improve Iraqis¡¯daily lives. He also said the United States and the Iraqi government should move to reopen state-owned factories and generate jobs.

    Soldiers told Gates that Iraqi security forces were improving, but that many do not show up for work.

    They also cited the challenge of training Iraqis who have ties to sectarian militias and who give those groups information about upcoming operations. One soldier said members of the Iraqi army see themselves as Iraqis but that local police identify themselves as Shiite or Sunni.

    (Agencies)