[Shadow_Group] US to boost forces in Iraq

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

U.S. Likely to Boost Forces in Iraq 

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 
WASHINGTON - Commanders in Iraq (news<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Iraq%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> - web sites<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Iraq>) probably will expand their troops by several thousand as the January elections approach, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Friday. 

Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith told a Pentagon (news<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Pentagon%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> - web sites<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Pentagon>) news conference that no final decisions have been made and that the size of the troop increase will depend in part on whether the insurgency grows or weakens in the aftermath of the Fallujah offensive, which he called a major success. 


Smith estimated that commanders would ask for about a brigade's worth of extra troops, which would be roughly 5,000. He said that probably would be achieved by keeping some units that were scheduled to serve 10 months in Iraq for an extra two months. He did not name the units. 


There now are about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, he said. 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20041119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_7<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20041119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_7>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/shadowgroup-l/attachments/20041123/423638c3/attachment.html>