Amid the Surge, an Army's Shortage

Planners have detected an increasing shortfall in the number of junior officers willing to stay in the service

It was an unusually brutal spring in Iraq. With at least 220 dead, April and May combined for the bloodiest two-month stretch for U.S. forces since the war began. The spike in casualties is the result of the troop "surge," chiefly into hostile parts of Baghdad, a move opposed by a number of senior generals before it was announced last winter. Now President George W. Bush is under mounting pressure from members of his party to prove the effectiveness of the surge by summer's end or risk having his allies turn on the policy. The fear, G.O.P. officials privately admit, is...

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