- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Faced
with rising violence in Iraq, the U.S. military plans to keep more than
10,000 troops from the 1st Armored Division and 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
there this summer beyond their promised yearlong tours, defense officials
said on Wednesday.
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- The officials, who asked not to be identified, said final
plans were being considered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld based
on a request from Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command
with responsibility for Iraq.
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- President Bush vowed on Tuesday night to stay the course
in Iraq, where 135,000 U.S. troops are now stationed, many involved in
fighting with insurgents that has killed more than 80 American soldiers
and Marines this month.
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- The number of U.S. troops in Iraq is currently swollen
by an ongoing rotation that was supposed to reduce the number to about
110,000 when it ended in May.
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- Defense officials said the total in Iraq was now likely
to remain at more than 120,000 for months after that as troops from the
1st Armored Division based in Germany, the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
based at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and supporting units remain in Iraq.
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- All U.S. troops in Iraq have been sent there under a
promise to be brought home after a year.
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- U.S. MILITARY STRETCHED GLOBALLY
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- But the military has been stretched by the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan along with global commitments in the U.S.-declared war
on terrorism that have sparked debate in Washington over whether to increase
the size of the active-duty Army and Marine Corps.
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- Some members of the Fort Polk cavalry unit recently returned
to Louisiana after a year in Iraq, but an Army official, who asked not
to be identified, said as many as 3,500 troops from the unit could remain
in Iraq until August.
-
- Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita refused to
discuss specific units other than to say Abizaid had made clear he wanted
some of the 1st Armored Division to remain.
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- "He (Abizaid) is looking for more combat brigade
capability and that means that well over 10,000 troops will remain when
support units are added," Di Rita told Reuters.
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- Army officials said formal welcome-home ceremonies, scheduled
later this month for the Fort Polk cavalry regiment, had been postponed.
-
- Speaking at a prime-time news conference on Tuesday night,
Bush gave no indication how long U.S. troops might be required in Iraq
except to say they would be there "as long as necessary, and not one
day more."
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- He noted Abizaid had asked for additional troops and
"if that's what he wants, that's what he gets."
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- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4828568
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