By Pauline Jelinek
Washington - The United States military is signalling that it will maintain or possibly increase the current level of about 130 000 troops in Iraq as commanders develop a plan to move as many as 5 000 soldiers with heavy armour into embattled Baghdad.
The Pentagon announced Thursday that roughly 21 000 Army soldiers and Marines have been told they are scheduled to go to Iraq during the current 2006-2008 rotation.
Combined with two previous announcements of about 113 000 American service members scheduled for this rotation period, this could bring the number of US troops there to as many as 134 000, if all units are deployed.
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Military commanders have said they will determine what units are sent depending on conditions in Iraq. The latest announcement calls into question suggestions that the Pentagon could reduce troop levels in Iraq significantly by year's end.
Defence officials who revealed the plan to reinforce the capital said the soldiers will use armoured vehicles and tanks to quell escalating violence in the capital.
As part of the plan, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld extended the tours on Thursday of 3 500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit was scheduled to be leaving now; instead, most of its 3 900 troops will serve for up to four more months.
It was unclear whether the Stryker troops, who are in northern Iraq, would be among those going to Baghdad.
Under the plan to bolster security in Baghdad, US troops would be teamed with Iraqi police and army units and make virtually every operation in the city a joint effort, one military official said. Another said movement of some troops into Baghdad already had begun.
As part of the Baghdad security plan, all flights out for soldiers currently at the end of their deployment were cancelled as of Tuesday as commanders wrestled with the plan and how to supply troops needed for it, a third official said.
All spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been completed, and discussions were private.
President George Bush broadly outlined a plan to increase US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad during Tuesday's visit to Washington by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Little detail was provided.
Officials said it would involve shifting some US forces to the capital from other locations in the country. About 30 000 US troops were in Baghdad before the new plan.
Assembling more troops and armour in Baghdad is aimed at calming violence that has increased in the capital since mid-June, when al-Maliki launched the city's biggest security crackdown since the US-led invasion.
As part of the new plan, about four companies of military police, or about 400 soldiers, are moving to Baghdad, and the remainder of a reserve force that had been in Kuwait - around another 400 troops - also has gone into Iraq, officials said this week.
Defence experts inside and outside the Pentagon worry that diverting US troops to Baghdad could weaken their ability in other parts of the country. They say the plan reverses an earlier effort to make Americans less visible and put Iraqi forces out front in the fight.
Others argued that Baghdad is the central problem at the moment, and Iraqis in the capital will feel safer with the heavier armoured presence.
William Patey, Britain's ambassador to Iraq, said Wednesday the security problem was made worse because Iraqis have lost confidence in the police, and evidence suggests some members of the police are linked to Shi'a militias and Sunni insurgent groups.
Asked if bringing tanks and armour back to Baghdad would run counter to plans for reducing the visibility of US forces, one military official said: "There is definitely a fine line between overwhelming amounts of combat power versus enough to make you feel safe.
"I don't think we're talking a tank on every street corner," the official said.
About 3 500 members of the Stryker brigade still were in Iraq Thursday, but about 200 had returned to their bases in Alaska and another 200 were in Kuwait awaiting transportation home.
According to the Army, officials would determine on a case-by-case basis whether any of the soldiers in Alaska or Kuwait should return to Iraq. Most of those in Alaska probably will be able to stay, but those determined to be essential personnel may have to return to the battlefront.
Rumsfeld has extended tours of duty earlier in the war, including several times late last year when US forces were increased to deal with violence in connection with Iraqi elections.
The move to bolster Baghdad security comes amid growing concern about the course of the three-year-old war among US lawmakers and the American public. - Sapa-AP
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