Pentagon hits general on troop count

In a contentious exchange over the costs of war with Iraq, the Pentagon's second-ranking official on Thursday disparaged the top Army general's assessment of the number of troops needed to secure postwar Iraq. House Democrats then accused the Pentagon official, Paul Wolfowitz, of concealing internal estimates.

Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, called the recent estimate by Gen. Eric Shinseki of the Army that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq "wildly off the mark." Pentagon officials have put the figure closer to 100,000 troops.

He then dismissed newspaper articles this week saying the Pentagon put the cost of war and reconstruction at $60 billion to $95 billion this fiscal year.

Wolfowitz's refusal to be pinned down infuriated some committee Democrats, who noted that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Mitchell Daniels Jr., the budget director, had briefed President Bush on just such estimates Tuesday.

"I think you're deliberately keeping us in the dark," said Rep. James Moran (D-Va.). "We're not so naive as to think that you don't know more than you're revealing."

Wolfowitz promised he eventually would fill in lawmakers on the administration's figures.