There is fresh controversy in the United States about the Iraq battle plan.
The White House continues to say that the troops in Iraq are making progress.
But a magazine article to be published on Monday claims that the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, forced his military chiefs to accept his ideas for a relatively small, lightly armed force.
Mr Rumsfeld is a famously abrasive character who has been accused in the past of bullying his generals.
It is widely accepted that he argued strongly before the war for a small, manoeuvrable force to attack Iraq.
But a lengthy article in this week's edition of the New Yorker magazine goes much further.
It quotes unnamed Pentagon sources as saying Mr Rumsfeld insisted at least six times before the conflict on the proposed numbers of troops being reduced.
It also claims that Mr Rumsfeld overruled the war commander, General Tommy Franks, who wanted to delay the invasion until the American troops denied access to Turkey were brought to Kuwait.
The Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the article but the allegations are likely to cause a political storm here and lead to further difficulties for Mr Rumsfeld and his team.
They desperately need some decisive victories in battle if the American people are to continue to believe what the White House is telling them - that this war is going roughly according to plan.
The White House continues to say that the troops in Iraq are making progress.
But a magazine article to be published on Monday claims that the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, forced his military chiefs to accept his ideas for a relatively small, lightly armed force.
Mr Rumsfeld is a famously abrasive character who has been accused in the past of bullying his generals.
It is widely accepted that he argued strongly before the war for a small, manoeuvrable force to attack Iraq.
But a lengthy article in this week's edition of the New Yorker magazine goes much further.
It quotes unnamed Pentagon sources as saying Mr Rumsfeld insisted at least six times before the conflict on the proposed numbers of troops being reduced.
It also claims that Mr Rumsfeld overruled the war commander, General Tommy Franks, who wanted to delay the invasion until the American troops denied access to Turkey were brought to Kuwait.
The Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the article but the allegations are likely to cause a political storm here and lead to further difficulties for Mr Rumsfeld and his team.
They desperately need some decisive victories in battle if the American people are to continue to believe what the White House is telling them - that this war is going roughly according to plan.