The U.S. general commanding the security crackdown in Baghdad said Friday that he has asked for reinforcements beyond the 17,000 U.S. combat troops already committed to the Iraqi capital as part of President Bush's emergency build-up. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, told a Pentagon news conference that he has requested additional forces to provide attack helicopters and combat engineers to bolster efforts to regain control of the capital city of 5 million.
Fil's request, if approved, could boost the U.S. buildup planned for Baghdad by more than 7,500 soldiers — or about a 44 percent increase. "We have requested specific elements — in other words, additional attack helicopters and additional engineers," Fil said, adding that additional logistics troops also would be required.
"We have asked for more (troops) and we believe that they will be given to us over time," Fil said.
http://www.chron.com/...
A surge on top of a surge.
But, I thought Maliki told Bush today that everything was going great? How many troops does Baghdad need?
If they add this 7,500 to the nearly 20,000 additional troops we are talking about 100,000 US and Iraqi troops in Baghdad.
Jack Murtha was right today when he said Iraq needs to be weaned off US support. Of course he and Reid supported the troop increase in Afghanistan, but we understand that.
Iraq's future needs to be left up to the Iraqis.