Washington, May 30 (Reuters): Tensions between the civilian leaders of the Pentagon, led by defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the US military’s top brass have deepened amid the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Even before the Iraq war some senior officers chafed under the guidance of Rumsfeld and his team, including deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, under secretary of defence for policy Douglas Feith and under secretary of defence for intelligence Stephen Cambone.

Retired officers and defence analysts said the problems have worsened during a war in which critics accuse Rumsfeld’s team of neglecting to provide enough troops to stabilise Iraq after ousting Saddam Hussein, botching the planning for the post-war period, and failing to anticipate and later comprehend an insurgency that threatens the mission with failure.

“The war itself has led to, rightly or wrongly, the feeling among many in the military that they’re not receiving competent direction, that it is too ideological, and that a lot of their military efforts have been wasted by what they regard as poor, inept planning for the stability phase,” said Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official now with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The military, particularly the army, has been strained mightily in maintaining troop levels in Iraq far higher than the Pentagon had forecast. Faced with a relentless insurgency, the Pentagon ordered 20,000 troops to remain three months longer than promised, and scrambled to find ways to maintain the current count of 138,000 troops there through the end of 2005.

University of North Carolina military historian Richard Kohn said a natural tension has existed between political appointees named by any President to head the defence department and the professional military officers who must follow their lead. “He has alienated the military,” Kohn said. “Many of them are waiting him out, or avoiding bringing problems to him, or trying to avoid dealing with him. And he knows that. And he avoids them quite frequently, and circumvents them, and tries to get around the bureaucracy.”