Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama nominated retired general Eric Shinseki, former US Army chief of staff, to head the US Department of Veterans Affairs, in an announcement Sunday in Chicago.

Shinseki, 66, was Army chief of staff from 1999-2003.

He was forced into retirement shortly after publicly voicing his belief that the looming March 2003 invasion of Iraq would require far higher troop strength than planned, in sharp disagreement with then- defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The invasion force of roughly 150,000 troops quickly toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein but is now widely seen as having been inadequate to keep order and secure the country.

After the Baghdad dictatorship collapsed in April 2003, Iraq suffered growing chaos including looting, and an anti-occupation insurgency, terrorism and sectarian strife gradually spread, until new tactics and a boost in US troop levels helped calm the violence.

In a television interview earlier Sunday, when questioned about Shinseki's departure from the Army in 2003, Obama noted that the general had been "right" about troop levels in Iraq.

The Department of Veterans Affairs delivers medical and mental health services, career transition assistance and help for veterans seeking disability and other military benefits.

Obama called veterans affairs a "sacred trust," as he introduced Shinseki at a press conference in Chicago.

"For many of today's troops and their families, the war doesn't end when they come home," Obama said, calling for increased screening of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for signs of traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorders.

"The servicemen and women who embody what's best about America should get the best care we have to offer."

Shinseki was born in Hawaii to a Japanese-American family and graduated in 1965 from the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. He served 38 years in the Army, losing part of his right foot during two combat tours in Vietnam.

"Veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular are confronting serious, severe wounds, some seen, some unseen," Shinseki said.

He said that the department he would head in Obama's cabinet will help veterans "get on with their lives in this struggling economy.

"They deserve a smooth, error-free, no-fail, benefits-assured transition into our ranks as veterans, and that is our responsibility, not theirs." (ddp)