Apr 30, 11:11 PM EDT

Ex-Weapons Inspector: Too Few Iraq Troops

By CLAYTON BELLAMY
Associated Press Writer

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The Bush administration failed to prepare adequately for postwar Iraq and has stationed too few troops there to maintain security during the occupation, the former chief U.S. weapons inspector said Friday. David Kay, who resigned from the CIA in January and told Congress "we were almost all wrong" about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, said he expects U.S. involvement in the country to result in more violence.

"We have too few troops there," Kay said at a speech to the Oklahoma Bankers Association. "We had enough troops for a brilliant military victory ... But it's too few to win the peace."

Kay, now a senior fellow at the Arlington, Va.-based Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, said the U.S. needs about 200,000 troops to maintain security in Iraq. There are currently are 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 24,900 troops from coalition countries, according to the Pentagon.

President Bush had used Saddam Hussein's alleged program to build banned weapons as justification for the U.S. invasion.

"We've reached a point where we have two options: Cut and run, but this wouldn't be pretty and it would be irresponsible; or we can struggle and try desperately to lower the level of violence in the next 60 days when we can turn it over to the Iraqis or the U.N.," Kay said.

June 20 is the target date for the partial turnover of power to an interim Iraqi government.

Kay, also a former chief nuclear inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the United States is still trying to figure out how to ensure national security in the post-Cold War era.

He said nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are now easier to obtain, and terrorists have replaced other nations as America's enemies.

"We've entered an era when the ability to inflict mass casualties is much easier than it's ever been," Kay said.