ABOARD USS JOHN F. KENNEDY, Oct 9: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Saturday some 40,000 new Iraqi recruits might join the country's fledgling security forces ahead of January elections.

Rumsfeld, who met with defense chiefs from 18 nations aboard a US aircraft carrier in the central Gulf on Saturday, also said it was possible that the Pentagon would also increase the number of US troops in Iraq ahead of the polls. But he said the decision rested with Army General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, and Army General John Abizaid, the top American commander in the region.

"The thing that we've got going in Iraq that's very good is the fact that we've got a steady, growing number of security forces because the Iraqi security forces have been growing at a good clip," Rumsfeld told reporters travelling with him on the flight from Washington to Bahrain.

"By the time we get to the elections we may have another plus or minus 40,000 Iraqi-trained and equipped security forces" on top of the roughly 100,000 that the Pentagon has said already are on the job, he added.

The United States is under pressure to send more troops to Iraq, above the 138,000 currently there, ahead of the elections. September was one of the deadliest months for US troops in Iraq, with at least 76 killed, according to Pentagon figures.

Rumsfeld arrived in Bahrain from Washington and then landed on the flight deck of the USS John F. Kennedy aboard a C-2 Greyhound plane along with the visiting defense ministers.

In addition to the previously unannounced meetings, the defense chiefs - many of them from the former Soviet bloc, as well as Gulf Arab officials and Iraq's interim defense minister - were being briefed on US strategy in Iraq in a video teleconference with Casey.

US officials said Casey provided an outline of the US strategy in Iraq, saying most of the problems were centred in four provinces and adding that he expected local control of the country by the end of the year.

Rumsfeld did not specifically solicit the other defense chiefs for fresh troop contributions, US officials said. But he indicated that the degree to which the international community provides additional troops to help firm up security will affect a US decision on sending more forces of its own.

Touting the presidential elections in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld told the other defense chiefs: "There are always naysayers and doomsayers and people who are faint of heart. But the people who have been determined and steadfast have been proved correct."

"Well, obviously, we've been requesting the U.N. to send in some troops, and we've been out helping the U.N. find countries that are willing to send in troops to support the elections, just as we did in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said.

He pointed out that the United States recently sent about 1,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to help enhance security for Saturday's landmark presidential election there. "And to the extent that's appropriate or needed, obviously that makes sense," Rumsfeld said of additional US troops for the Iraq election.

US troops, Iraqi security forces and about 22,000 other foreign troops are fighting the insurgency. The United States recently wrested Samarra from rebels but other key cities, such as Falluja, remain strongholds for the insurgents.

Asked the importance of bringing Sunni cities and towns under control to allow residents to vote in the elections, Rumsfeld said:-Reuters