Guard Units Could Be Redeployed To Iraq

Pentagon To Alert Thousands In National Guard For Second Tours Of Duty In 2008

(AP)  Several National Guard brigades are expected to be notified soon that they could be sent to Iraq around the first of next year, according to a senior Defense Department official.

If their assignment to Iraq is ultimately approved by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, it would be the first time full Guard combat brigades have been sent back to Iraq for second tours.

A brigade is roughly 3,500 troops.

The units would serve as replacement forces in the regular unit rotation for the war and would not be connected to the recent military buildup for security operations in Baghdad. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to sign the notices alerting the Guard troops shortly, said the official, who requested anonymity because the information has not yet been released.

"You will start to see reserve component forces coming back into the rotation," said the official, adding that the notices are being done now in order to give the Guard units more time to prepare.

Guard officials told The Associated Press in February that they had contingency plans to send at least two Guard combat brigades back to Iraq in 2008 for their second yearlong tour of duty.

While it is not clear yet which units would be alerted, they probably would include brigades that were among the first to go to Iraq early in the war.

Smaller units and individual troops from the Guard already have returned to Iraq for longer periods, and some active duty units have served multiple tours.

The troop alerts come as President Bush and Congress wrestle over legislation that would set timelines for troop withdrawals from Iraq.

Nearly two months ago, Mr. Bush asked for more than $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. Congress has approved the money, but the Senate added a nonbinding provision calling for most U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008. The House version demands a September 2008 withdrawal. President Bush has vowed to veto any legislation that includes such deadlines.

According to defense and Guard officials, the first Guard units could go as early as late December with others to follow during the next six months. They would be deployed only if commanders in Iraq determined the troops were needed.

About 270,000 of the more than 347,000 Army Guard soldiers have served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Gates said Thursday that the Pentagon's goal is to give reserve units five years at home for every year deployed. Earlier this year he announced that the reserves will now deploy as full units, and they will go for 12 months at a time.

Guard units currently serve about 18 months for each tour of duty, including six months of training.

But Gates told Pentagon reporters that there will be a "transition period during which those guidelines would be violated and in which we would be unable, because of the troops commitments in Afghanistan and in Iraq, to meet those goals."

That transition period, he said, could last a year or two.

[inventagod]

I notice we have to really dig to find any story on the Iraq oil invasion...

Iraq has just slipped off the media radar, WHY?

[iceman_1960]

"The troop buildup has shown signs of improvement in Iraq. Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer." Posted by mbcsmith at 08:29 AM : Apr 06, 2007

In a related CBS story, al Qaeda is now reaching into Morocco at the far western end of the Muslim world, making it a new "safe haven" for terrorists.

Will US forces be sent to make us safer there too ?

[randalds]

The troop buildup has shown signs of improvement in Iraq. Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer.
Posted by mbcsmith at 08:29 AM : Apr 06, 2007

This statement would by hilarious, if there weren't some many people dying because of the stupidity of it.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Guard Units Could Be Redeployed To Iraq"

Fortunately, more and more of our wisest and bravest soldiers are refusing to participate in the barbaric and illegal war against Iraq, risking prison instead, rather than disgracing themselves in the criminal Bush crusade.

These are the ONLY U.S. military heroes of the Iraq war.

"Do not fight for a dying regime. It is not worth your life." GWB

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxKpeKQA6B4

www.appealforredress.org

[soldat44]

The troop buildup has shown signs of improvement in Iraq. Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer.
Posted by mbcsmith

Safer from who? There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq till we drew them there by destroying the country.

The only thing Bush is fighting in Iraq is himself. If he had finished the job in Afganistan he could have been a great president...but he failed that mission also.

Also, what perfect timing for this announcement...12,000 more troops for Iraq just in time for Easter. If he could he would send all of us over there for his delusion. This is madness...so sad...so very sad.

[iceman_1960]

"Increased security messures [more Frenchmen ?]"

I messed up.

Make that "measures"

[iceman_1960]

"Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer." Posted by mbcsmith

All honor and respect to the fighting men and women, who would rather be anywhere else on Easter.

But the war itself hasn't even made Morley safer.

Increased security messures have prevented major terrorist attacks on American soil.

Not the war.

[radiob-2009]

WASHINGTON - Vice President *** Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein%u2019s Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.

Where did you find this dallison?

[dallison7]

Updated: 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Vice President *** Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein%u2019s Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.


DO SOME OF YOU MORONS OUT THERE ACTUALLY BELIEVE THESE LYING AZZHOLES??

[radiob-2009]

Feelfree1 Here is the link to the story about the US backing Iranian terrorist in Pakistan which you posted on yesterday.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1466948.ece

[crater7]

G. W. (PINOCCHIO) BUSH, continues to blindly send our troops into the abyss of the Iraq Civil War, which is without question, the worlds greast military blunder.

*** (CONFUSED) CHENEY, still claims that Saddam and Iraq was tied to al-Qaida. Even after the SEPT. 11 COMMISION, in a report released Thursday, confirmed the terrorist organization and the Saddam government were not working together before the invasion. Also found no relationship between bin-Laden's al-Qaida network.

This administration continues an arrogant and total disregard to the Congress and the American people who strongly support an end to the killing of our kids.

MAYBE THE IMPEACHMENT WORD SHOULD BE CONSIDERED.

[dallison7]

The troop buildup has shown signs of improvement in Iraq. Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer.
Posted by mbcsmith


You know you are lying!

YOU CAN'T BE THAT DUMB!

[rafterman1]

"Really? What was the meaning of "The Buck Stops Here?" that was put on Truman's Desk then?"

Bush put that sign into the deep recesses of his desk and it hasn't seen the light of day since.

[panhandlpete]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Calling up the National Guard to fight this CIVIL WAR in Iraq is WRONG. They are the military branch that is supposed to protect and serve on the local/national homefront in this Nation....to assist in times of natural disaster. Remember Katrina! A full brigade is needed to control our southern border, not 6000.

ARE THERE ANY SANE REPUBLICANS LEFT IN CONGRESS? If so, please heed the cries from the people and put sanity back into this government by stopping these mad MEN from destroying this country. IMPEACHMENT, with enough votes, can happen within a week when Congress returns.

This info about Guard deployment conveniently comes out as the battle is raging over funding for the troops. Was it intended to sway public opinion? Hopefully, it will only inform that our military, like the rest of the country, is in dire shape and needs immediate attention.

[mbcsmith]

The troop buildup has shown signs of improvement in Iraq. Thanks to our fighting men and women. It's a tough job, but keep up the good work! You are making America safer.

[iceman_1960]

"...for a century and a half now [for the math challenged, that's 150 years], America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."

Only an empty headed fool could speak these words in 2002 without alarm bells going off in his head.

That's the empty headed fool who now demands that America follow his lead in Iraq, based on what he "believes."

I wouldn't trust Dubya to water my houseplants.

[skyk-2009]

Sparky - you have it all wrong, the American liberal way is to argue, bicker and aimlessly protest all that is handed to them...isn't that what Iraq is for? (sarcasm)
Posted by badaxmofo at 09:55 PM : Apr 05, 2007
+ report abuse

Really? What was the meaning of "The Buck Stops Here?" that was put on Truman's Desk then?

[iceman_1960]

The man who allegedly planned the Iraq war couldn't remember Pearl Harbor.

Bush Gaffes Anger, Puzzle Asia (by Randolph T. Holhut, March 4, 2002)

George W. Bush is back from his Asia trip. It wasn't a total debacle, but it certainly didn't offer anyone any hope that he knows anything about foreign policy other than what his advisors tell him.

Take this quote from a speech he made in Japan: "My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific."

Hello? Wasn't there a bit of a disagreement between Japan and the United States that occurred about 60 years ago -- World War II? That certainly was a break in the "enduring alliance," which didn't really begin until we destroyed Japan in the war, and occupied its territory ever since.

That wasn't quite as bad as his remarks a day earlier when President Bush confused "devaluation" with "deflation." That gaffe sent the shaky Japanese markets into a brief tailspin, until traders figured out that Bush didn't know what he was talking about.

Full report at:

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0203a/bushasiatour.html

[skyk-2009]

Let's all hope and pray that enough REAL Republican's can see the harm Bush is doing to the nation and to our well being that they will join with the Democrats and simply cut off the funding for this War. I can see no other way to stop this Mad Man. Our Military is streached to the Max right now folks and we can NOT start this again, drawing on the National Guard. The INSANE Vice President yesterday, after all we now know and all that has been shown to be true, again tried to link Bin Laden's group to Iraq! I'm telling you folks they are BOTH as NUTS as any in the Hood and Sheet Crowd have ever been.

[coffeehead-2009]

Tongue in cheek !

BUT THINK OF THE JOBS THIS ADMINISTRATION COULD CREATE!


The Justice Department called David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, an 'absentee landlord'%u2014a key reason listed for his firing last December. Just one problem: Iglesias, a captain in the Navy Reserve, was off teaching classes as part of the war on terror. Now Iglesias is striking back, arguing he was improperly dismissed.

But Iglesias%u2019s military service in support of what the Pentagon likes to call the Global War on Terror (GWOT) apparently didn%u2019t go down well with his superiors at the Justice Department. Recently released documents show that one reason aides to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cited in justifying the decision to fire Iglesias as U.S attorney late last year was that he was an %u201Cabsentee landlord%u201D who was spending too much time away from the office.