|
Us to extend duty tours of 10 thousand troops Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4828568http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4828568
U.S. to Extend Duty Tours of 10,000 Troops in Iraq
Wed Apr 14, 2004 03:12 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
All U.S. troops in Iraq have been sent there under a promise to be brought home after a year.
U.S. MILITARY STRETCHED GLOBALLY
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.
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.
"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.
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."
He noted Abizaid had asked for additional troops and "if that's what he wants, that's what he gets."
|
|
