The news comes one day after the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East testified against both a withdrawal and an increase of U.S. troops in Iraq. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday, General John Abizaid was questioned by Arizona Senator John McCain.

Sen. John McCain: “I respect you enormously. I appreciate your service. I regret deeply that you seem to think that the status quo and the rate of progress we are making is acceptable. I think most Americans do not.”

Gen. John Abizaid: “Well, Senator, I agree with you. The status quo is not acceptable, and I do not believe what I’m saying today is the status quo. I am saying we must significantly increase our ability to help the Iraqi army by putting more American troops with Iraqi units and military transition teams to speed the amount of training that is done, to speed the amount of heavy weapons that get there and to speed the ability of Iraqi troops to deploy.”