World

5,000 More U.S. Troops Baghdad-Bound?

July 29, 2006 / 12:43 PM EDT / CBS/AP

As many as 5,000 additional U.S. troops with armored vehicles and tanks will be sent into Baghdad under a plan being developed by military commanders to stem escalating violence in the Iraqi capital, defense officials say.

The plan by commanders in Iraq, which has not been finalized, could bring the total number of U.S. troops there to 134,000, if all are deployed. It also would call into question whether the Pentagon could significantly reduce troop levels in Iraq by year's end as commanders had hoped.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit, which has been serving in northern Iraq, was scheduled to be leaving now. Instead, most of its 3,900 troops will serve for up to four more months. It was unclear whether the unit would go to Baghdad.

Under the plan to bolster Baghdad's security, U.S. troops would be teamed with Iraqi police and army units and make virtually every operation in the city a joint effort, one military official said. Another said movement of some troops into Baghdad had already begun.

At the same time, the Pentagon signaled plans to maintain or possibly increase the current level of about 130,000 troops in Iraq, by announcing that roughly 21,000 Army soldiers and Marines have been told they are scheduled to go to Iraq during the current 2006-2008 rotation.

All flights out for soldiers currently at the end of their deployment were canceled as of Tuesday, as commanders wrestled how to supply troops for the effort, a third official said.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been finalized.

In other developments:

Gunmen in Tikrit Friday killed two civilians who were employed by U.S. troops. They were killed in a drive-by shooting in the al-Qadissya neighborhood of Tikrit, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

A U.S. Marine was killed in action in western Iraq, officials said. The Marine was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, which operates in Anbar province, and died Thursday, the command said.

A bomb tore through a pipeline southwest of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad Friday. The pipeline carries oil from Iraq's largest refinery in Beiji to Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, police said.

USA Today reports that Iraqi insurgents are teaching recruits sophisticated sniper techniques for targeting U.S. troops that include singling out engineers, medics and chaplains, according to training material obtained by U.S. military intelligence. The insurgent sniper training manual was posted on the Internet, and its tips include: "Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested as a means of psychological warfare."

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb blasted Baghdad's upscale Karradah district Thursday, killing 31 people and wounding 153, police said. The explosions occurred at midmorning in a religiously mixed neighborhood controlled by a major Shiite party.

Saddam Hussein's trial has adjourned until Oct. 16.

President Bush broadly outlined a plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad during Tuesday's visit to Washington by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But little detail was provided.

Officials said it would involve shifting some U.S. forces to the capital from other locations in the country. There were about 30,000 U.S. troops in Baghdad prior to the new plan.

On Thursday, Rumsfeld met privately with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss funding needed for troops and the replacement or repair of equipment damaged in combat. House and Senate Republicans are weighing next year's defense spending bills amid reports that Army units are woefully ill-equipped and need billions of dollars to recover from the war.

"There is no question that resetting the force after the heavy usage that's occurred costs money and will have to be funded in supplementals for a period of time," said Rumsfeld, who predicted that funds may be needed for up to three years after the war ends.

Assembling more troops and armor in Baghdad is aimed at calming sectarian violence that has increased in the capital since mid-June, when al-Maliki launched a broad security crackdown.

On Friday, a four-hour driving ban was in place in Baghdad in an effort to stem sectarian attacks. But a bomb planted between a Sunni mosque and a youth center exploded during Friday prayers, killing four people and wounding another nine, police said.

The blast hit just as worshippers began leaving the al-Ali al-Aadhim mosque in southeastern Baghdad, said police Capt. Ali Mahdi. A rocket also exploded in downtown Baghdad, injuring three, police said.