Posted on 08/23/2005 5:47:20 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THE Pentagon plans to deploy two additional battalions to Iraq amid rising insurgent attacks ahead of an anticipated referendum on a constitution, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.
Mr Rumsfeld expressed confidence that public support for the war effort in Iraq will hold despite polls showing growing disenchantment in the United States. "I think it'll have the support of the American people, and it will be sustained, and we will be successful," he said.
"And the alternative would be to turn that country and 25 million people over to terrorists and the kinds of people who have used chemicals on their own people and chemicals on their neighbours," he said. "That would be to turn to darkness."
An unfinished draft of the constitution was presented to the Iraqi parliament late yesterday, but deep differences remain between Sunnis and the Shiites and Kurds.
Mr Rumsfeld discounted concerns that Sunni rejection of the charter could leave US forces caught in the middle of a civil war.
"It hasn't happened yet. It is not happening now," he said.
"And, obviously, it is something that one has to be attentive to and be concerned about. But I haven't seen anything to indicate that the risk is greater today than it was yesterday or the day before," he said.
His comments came on a day in which two more Americans, a soldier and a contractor, died. They were killed in a suicide bombing in Baquba that also claimed the lives of five Iraqis.
Around 60 US troops have been killed so far in August, making it one of the deadliest months of the war for the US military since it invaded Iraq in March 2003.
The US death toll now stands at 1868.
Mr Rumsfeld acknowledged that insurgents have stepped up attacks in anticipation of a planned October 15 referendum on the constitution, attributing the higher casualties to more lethal and sophisticated insurgent bomb attacks.
"We very likely will be announcing a temporary increase in forces in Iraq in anticipation of the October 15th. So at some point, we'll be notifying people and taking that forward," he said.
Asked how many troops could be involved, he said between 1000 and 2000 soldiers.
Admiral Edmund Giambastiana, the new vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would be two battalions.
Senior military officials said the battalions would amount to extra troops, brought in on top of the scheduled rotation of forces in Iraq.
Military officials also are looking at ways to adjust the rotation of forces to beef up the US troop presence on the ground for the elections from its current level of about 138,000 troops.
Some units already in Iraq could have their tours extended for a couple of months while units due to deploy to Iraq could be brought in earlier than scheduled.
Pentagon officials have said they expect the total number to rise to about the level they were at during Iraq's January 30 elections - some 159,000 troops.
can you say Iranian and/or Syrian border?
That is also, ironically, VERY close to the next troop rotation....
Cols Hunt and Cowan on OReilly tonight outlining some specific changes they would make, including:
- fire some generals
- more special forces
- less tank groups in civilian areas
- less convoy operations for US troops
- move some heavy mechanized units into border areas of the country. draw a line in the sand, tell iran and syria that targets on their side of the border will be hit if terrorists flow over the borders
- money from the iraqi government to outfit their own forces is pitiful, they do not have proper equipment. this lines up with a FR thread I saw last week, some freeper with a friend in Iraq posting for Nissan parts for trucks that iraqi forces use (did anyone else catch that?)
have at it fellows....
Staistically impossible. If 1686 soldiers were killed over 30 months, that would be (on average) 62.3 soldiers/month. Acknowledging that the distribution of deaths over those 30 months may not be random, I doubt this has been one of the deadliest months since the invasion. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
We are fighting thugs and terroorists--sending two more battalions to Iraq makes no sense. This is an admission that the Iraqi people (the Iraqi Army) does not care about fighting for their own freedom.
On Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush said, "We will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
Iran and Syria harbor terrorists. We have not done jack about that since 911. The IEDs that are killing our sons are being built in Iran.
Also, Iran is building nukes. What has Bush done about that since 911? He sent them aid after earthquakes--TWICE!--since his 911 promise to"We will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
We should be sending cruise missiles and F-15Es into Syria and Iran, NOT sending two more battalions to IRaq to fight the Iraqi Army's fight.
My Good Buddy Jess (22) who is also a FR Lurker just got to Camp Liberty 2 days ago,God Bless them All.
God bless them all, indeed.
August is only two-thirds over; at this rate, it's closer to 90 killed.
These tactical ideas sure make sense to me. Hunt wanted a " Killer General" in there..preferably a Marine!
are there ANY changes you are in favor of?
We're in this together and, together, WE WILL WIN!!!
Not always true...
71 see: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
I agree. They're not on the top of the deck in terms of experience, intelligence or creativity.
No, I meant that by the time August is over, assuming the rate is the same, there will be closer to 90 dead. Hopefully, that won't happen.
This is pretty obvious stuff
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