BAGHDAD, March 16, 2007
Pentagon OKs Deploying Iraq Backup
Combat Aviation Unit Heading To Iraq To Support Surge; Saddam Ally Dead
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Play CBS Video Video Talks Held On Iraq's Security Officials from the U.S., Iran, Syria, and other nations met at a conference in Baghdad to discuss how to stop the violent attacks in Iraq. Charlie D'Agata has more details.
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Video Syria: Don't Blame Us The U.S. has accused Syria of fueling the violence in Iraq by providing weapons and support to foreign insurgents. Many Syrians say the U.S. is exaggerating its claims. Charlie D'Agata reports.
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Video IEDs: Big Threat To Military IEDs have turned out to be the biggest threat to the U.S. military in Iraq. The Pentagon has budgeted $2 billion for anti-IED equipment. Allen Pizzey reports.
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A U.S. soldier keeps watch in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad on March 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Adil al-Khazali)
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Iraqi soldiers celebrate next to a wrecked car that was driven by a suicide bomber in Baghdad's Yarmuk neighborhood, March 15, 2007. (Getty Images/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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An Iraqi woman and her granddaughter stand on the doortsteps of their home at the site of a car bomb attack in Iskandaria, March 15, 2007. (Getty Images/Majid Saeedi)
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The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, gestures while delivering a Friday sermon in Iraq in this 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Alaa Al-Marjani)
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A woman passes by a wreck of a car destroyed in a suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad, March 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive New Plan For Iraq Key elements of the plan, excerpts from the president's speech, reaction and more.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the deployment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division combat aviation brigade 45 days earlier than planned, meaning they will go around May, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Friday.
The approval will mean roughly 30,000 troops eventually will go to Baghdad and Anbar Province in the Bush administration's buildup to crack down on rising sectarian violence and insurgents, Whitman said.
Two months ago, Mr. Bush ordered 21,500 additional American troops to Iraq to help calm the violence. He did not initially mention the support units that would also be needed.
Officials later said that the number of support troops needed for the influx could be around 7,000. These include some 2,400 combat support troops and some 2,200 military police to help with an anticipated increase in detainees picked up during the crackdown.
Asked what he would say to critics of the steady additions to the original number, Whitman noted that some of the requests came after new U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus arrived in Iraq and assessed what he needed.
"The secretary wants to be responsive to the commanders," he said, adding that Gates wants to give commanders what they believe they need to do the job as long as the requests are justified.
Meanwhile, the military reported Friday the deaths of two more American troops. A statement said a soldier was killed by an explosion during fighting Thursday in a mainly Sunni province northwest of Baghdad, and a Marine died Wednesday in the western Anbar province.
The Marine's death was being classified as a non-combat incident and was still under investigation, according to the statement.
In other developments:
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- HAVE BEEN TELLING ALL OF YOU TO GO AND READ THE FACTS TRUE FACTS ABOUT IRAQ AND IRAN..HOW MUCH LONGER TO I HAVE TO KEEP POSTING THE SAME THING UNTIL YOU ALL READ IT..go to www.scoop.co.nz go to search tab and put in PENTAGON WHISTLE-BLOWER IRAQ and read it..it is sad but true and until you americans wake up and smell the s/h/i/t/ that your government has been telling you for CENTURIES.....
I was once proud to be american and proud to say i i'm a vet,now i just want out.You all in congress and capital hill and white house should be working for america and the americans that elected you to protect us,that isn't the case and i know why. I have been looking and found something that all america has forgotton.Who said this statement: If the personal freedoms of all americans by the Constitution and bill of right are Inhibiting the Government ability to (Govern)that meant control, the people of united states of america..Than we Should look to Limit those GUARANTEES #2.The united states Government CAN'T BE so fixed on our desires to preserve the RIGHTS of ORDINARY AMERICANS #3.I can do any ********* thing i want,I'm president of the united states and you dont forget that.....who am I..... so you all have been following your orders well i want you all to know that i hold all of you accountable for the murders of thousends of americans that have died and wounded in a war we have no buisness being in, - Reply to this comment
- The U.S. President has a 30 percent approval rating. The Republicans lost the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate in the last election. 70 percent of the American people want the U.S. out of Iraq. Yet, the President can keep U.S. Troops in Iraq and even increase their numbers all by himself with little support! As much as I support our system of government, this interesting situation may just mean the U.S. President, no matter who sits in that office has too much power. If there is no mechanism to influence this office to the will of the American people or turn its power off when the American people want if off then the power of this office may need to be revisited!
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- more troops? thank God we're not in a war. we might then need a new president and some new generals.
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- To ALL you Rep W4 Iraq War Lovers being paid by Rove to publish his ads on here. Yes being paid to go through the net,the press to publish editorials in papers call in radio media for money.I am not buying it and trust me I know about roves honorable tactics.He knows a lot about forging stationary and character assassination.Ask someone who lived the(Watergate era) who old Rover's former boss was a big player.Ask John Dean? He knows that history.So rove lovin war mongers call Rush Bimbas E.D.Limbas,show over and over again masturbating him with Republican accolades,what piece of work that drug addict is.
Why not enlist take the rest of your pals with ya tough guys.Surge on!. Ya don't even have to do desert warfare training anymore.We'll get ya in the game quick.Check out Bidon's comments on W's War, from the Senate.Then go do war.Report back to us the about unknown Mission impossible?Take Mitch McConnell,Lindsey Graham and Rove with ya.After your 3rd tour come back and tell us all how that Iraqi Freedom is all working.Get some tips at Walter Reed before ya go about armored up!What a gift from this "compassionate administration.Idiot's You Pathetic Idiots!Buying guns weapons(even with words) and fear from guys who sell em to both sides.Playing both sides of your ego against each other like "pawns" and having you call it Patriotic.Who will profit,who will die,and who will pay? - Reply to this comment
- Musty,,, Privatization maybe good for your pocket,, But it obviously isn't good for our military or veterana... And it's no way to fight a war...
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- Musty,,, Haliburton's move is a National Security issue, in adition to possibly evading prosecutions -- It's too big & needs to be taken down.
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- Has anyone noticed that they don't allow discussion on certain news stories anymore? ESPECIALLY when Sir Lies-A-Lot is the issue. That disgusting JERK today accused the Democrats in Congress of PLAYING politic's with the War. This rediculous LOW LIFE is beneth contempt anymore. After watching the CIA Agent yesterday and knowing that HIS administration DISTROYED her life and the job she had worked so long for no other reason that POLITICS. When are you going to do the right thing you slime dog? When are you going to RESIGN Mr. Bush. I'm tired of you and all your lies.
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- Halliburton is spliting the headquarters, some will remain in Houston. Don't forget Halliburton has over 45,000 employees globally and intends to incresse that number by 13,000 in 2007. Folks, this isn't a mom and pop grocery we are talking about.
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- It is indeed wrong for us to pubish troop deployment where our enemies can read about it and profit from it. Our enemies are those Americans who care more about wealth than honor, more about business than human commerce, more about their feeling of prestige than the prestige of their nation. We are betrayed from within.
Arabs don't even care about us. The only one who bothered to attack America was Bin Laden, and he of course was a contractor of the CIA for many years, and had close ties to the Bush family.
No its true that for most foolish people their "own worst enemy is themselves" and for this nation, our worst enemy is our ignorance and greed. What a terrible price some have paid for our wasteful greed, intemperance, asset bubbles and mania. What a terrible price. The best of our nation, pieces of them lying in a foreign field, while the greed machine parties on. Paris Hilton and her friends dance on their bodies, they burn real estate cash and ill-gotten gains in orgies of wanton waste, while our heroes lie still, without breath, unmourned, unremembered.
We are indeed tempting fate to be so ungrateful. - Reply to this comment
- HERE ARE THE REPUBLICAN SENATORS UP FOR REELECTION IN 08 WRITE THEM ASK THEM IF THEIR SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL TRUMPS THEIR DUTY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING KILLED FROM THEIR STATES?
ASK THEM HOW MUCH AIPAC INFLUENCES THEIR VOTES ON IRAQ?
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN)
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA)
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS)
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN)
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME)
Cornyn, John- (R - TX)
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID)
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC)
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC)
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE)
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK)
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY)
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL)
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH)
Warner, John- (R - VA)
If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
The House Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov - Reply to this comment
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
