Vance
11-06-2003, 07:51 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/06/sprj.irq.main/index.html
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/meast/11/06/sprj.irq.main/vert.tank.wednesday.ap.jpg
An Iraqi boy talks to a U.S. soldier of the 1st Armored Division in the al-Mansour area of Baghdad on Wednesday.
(CNN) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved a troop rotation plan that would send more than 100,000 fresh troops to Iraq early next year, Pentagon sources said. A formal announcement is expected Thursday.
The plan includes the call-up of some 40,000 National Guard and Reserve troops for one-year tours of duty in Iraq, the sources said.
In addition, several thousand Marines, not originally part of the plan, will be used to make up for the failure of the United States to get enough commitments from other countries to field a third multinational division. There are already divisions led by the Polish and British.
Pentagon officials said the plan would actually reduce the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq, from 130,000 to close to 100,000.
101st Airborne Division troops, for example, will not be replaced one-for-one. Because they are in a calmer area around Mosul in the north, a smaller force will take over their sector, officials said.
Besides the 101st Airborne, two other divisions are scheduled to return to the United States in early 2004.
The 4th Infantry Division, headquartered in Tikrit, is to return by April. It is scheduled to be replaced by the 1st Infantry Division in Germany.
The 1st Armored Division, in Baghdad, also is scheduled to return by April and be replaced by the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. A brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division also is scheduled for rotation.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited the deployments Wednesday during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee as lawmakers questioned whether U.S. forces have been stretched too thin.
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/meast/11/06/sprj.irq.main/vert.tank.wednesday.ap.jpg
An Iraqi boy talks to a U.S. soldier of the 1st Armored Division in the al-Mansour area of Baghdad on Wednesday.
(CNN) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved a troop rotation plan that would send more than 100,000 fresh troops to Iraq early next year, Pentagon sources said. A formal announcement is expected Thursday.
The plan includes the call-up of some 40,000 National Guard and Reserve troops for one-year tours of duty in Iraq, the sources said.
In addition, several thousand Marines, not originally part of the plan, will be used to make up for the failure of the United States to get enough commitments from other countries to field a third multinational division. There are already divisions led by the Polish and British.
Pentagon officials said the plan would actually reduce the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq, from 130,000 to close to 100,000.
101st Airborne Division troops, for example, will not be replaced one-for-one. Because they are in a calmer area around Mosul in the north, a smaller force will take over their sector, officials said.
Besides the 101st Airborne, two other divisions are scheduled to return to the United States in early 2004.
The 4th Infantry Division, headquartered in Tikrit, is to return by April. It is scheduled to be replaced by the 1st Infantry Division in Germany.
The 1st Armored Division, in Baghdad, also is scheduled to return by April and be replaced by the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. A brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division also is scheduled for rotation.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited the deployments Wednesday during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee as lawmakers questioned whether U.S. forces have been stretched too thin.