20,000 U.S. Troops To Stay In Iraq
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday that the death toll of U.S. troops in recent fighting in Iraq was higher than he had expected, acknowledging a change in plans as he announced thousands of soldiers won't be coming home as early as promised.
Rumsfeld described a decision to keep some 20,000 troops inside Iraq longer than originally planned, telling reporters at the Pentagon: "I certainly would not have estimated that we would have had the number of individuals lost that we have had lost in the last week."
Halfway through April, the month already is the deadliest of the war for the United States, with 88 U.S. soldiers killed in a surge of violence coming from multiple insurgent factions inside the country. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed.
The violence has prompted generals in Iraq to seek more combat power than they had originally planned, and the most convenient source will be the units scheduled to rotate home after yearlong tours.
The decision to keep more troops there breaks a promise to soldiers who were assured they would stay no more than one year. By extending their tours of duty by up to three months, the Pentagon is acknowledging that the insurgency has ruined its plans to reduce the size of the U.S. military presence this spring.
President Bush, speaking at a symposium in Iowa, also acknowledged the difficulties.
"The situation on the ground, I readily concede, is tough work," Bush said. "We've got good people there working it, and some have paid the highest price of all."
In other developments:
Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the 20,000 soldiers are mainly from the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. A more detailed breakdown was not immediately announced. Other officials said that approximately 14,500 soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, which is based in Germany, plus about 3,200 support troops and about 2,800 soldiers of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, La., have been told that they will remain in Iraq for another three months instead of coming home this month.
Rumsfeld said that about one-quarter of the 20,000 troops being extended are members of the National Guard or Reserve. He did not mention an exact number or identify the Guard or Reserve units.
The United States has a total of about 137,000 troops in Iraq now, Rumsfeld said. That number was supposed to have dipped to 115,000 by May, but Rumsfeld said Gen. John Abizaid, the overall commander of the Iraq war, decided he needs to keep the force level at about 135,000 troops.
Some critics have asserted throughout the U.S. occupation of Iraq that the military had too few troops on the ground to stabilize the country and assure its economic and political rebuilding.
Rumsfeld said that if Abizaid decides that he needs to maintain the same troop strength in Iraq after the 90-day extension runs out the Pentagon will send fresh forces from the United States or elsewhere.
The troop extensions come at a particularly delicate moment. April has become the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since they set foot in the country in March 2003. The number of wounded also has skyrocketed.
At a Baghdad news conference Thursday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether the troop extensions indicate plans for large-scale offensive operations. He did not answer directly, saying the move was deemed necessary given "extremist and terrorist acts that must be dealt with."
Myers said it has yet to be determined how long the added combat power will be kept in Iraq.
"It will depend on events here on the ground," he said. "But I think what it shows is our resolve to see this situation through." Myers was in Baghdad for talks with U.S. and coalition commanders and to meet with L. Paul Bremer, Iraq's U.S. administrator.