Giuliani calls for bigger Army

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 6 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph W. Giuliani says the U.S. Army needs to increase its ranks by at least 70,000 soldiers.

Speaking Saturday to the graduating class at the Citadel in Charleston, S.C., Giuliani also called for the creation of a special military force to handle post-combat operations, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said the Army should grow from its current 512,000 soldiers to at least 582,000, an even larger increase than the White House has advocated.

"I believe that America needs at least 10 new combat brigades," he said.

Two other candidates for the Republican nomination, Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, also have called for an increase in the Army's troop strength, as has Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who is seeking her party's presidential nomination.

With his call for a new force to handle post-combat operations, Giuliani implied the handling of the war in Iraq has been flawed until recently, the Times reported.