Former CIA/NSA Chief: We'll See 3,000 To 5,000 U.S. Troops In Iraq By Christmas

"You can't keep to the false limits we've place on ourselves," Michael Hayden warns.

Former Central Intelligence and National Security Agency chief Michael Hayden said Monday he believes the United States will have three to five thousand American troops in Iraq by Christmas.

"I actually think you can't keep to the false limits we've place on ourselves," Hayden said on NewsMaxTV's America's Forum. "We're going to have to put forces more forward. Quite quietly we've deployed a division headquarters to Iraq."

The former NSA head, who has been critical of Obama in the past few years added he believed gradually increase U.S. troop levels in Iraq will leave thousands of American soldiers in Iraq by year's end.

"I think we see a gradual increased in American presence there. I've used the number three to five thousand by Christmas on the ground and I think I'm still comfortable with that estimate. Not American maneuver brigades, but if this is worth doing, it's worth doing well."

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