More US troops to Iraq?

2005-08-08 21:13

Washington - The United States might build up its forces in Iraq later this year in anticipation of rising insurgent violence as Iraqis vote for a constitution and a new government, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Monday.

No decisions had been made so far to extend the tours of any units in Iraq or to send reinforcements from the United States to beef up the force in Iraq, said Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson.

But he said those options were available.

"We altered the rotation of units during the January elections, and I think its perfectly plausible we'll do the same thing for these elections," said DiRita.

He said it is more likely that units already in Iraq would be kept longer than planned, which would temporarily swell the size of force in the country.

It is less likely that US-based units such as the 82nd airborne division, which keeps troops ready for short-notice deployments, would be brought in just for the elections as they have in Afghanistan, he said.

Might stay longer

The New York Times reported over the weekend that the top US commanders are looking to increase US force levels in Iraq from 138 000 to 160 000 during the elections in December.

DiRita would not comment on those numbers.

He said, however, that units in Iraq have been warned by their commanders to expect to stay in Iraq as long as a full year, even if they had been scheduled to return home sooner.

He said no "wide-scale" deviation from the Pentagon's policy of limiting deployments to 12 months was under consideration, although there might be exceptions to the policy.

He noted that Iraqi security forces would have primary responsibility for security during the elections, as they did in the January 30 elections to a transitional national assembly.

Violence expected to spike

Adopting a new constitution and holding successful elections are seen as crucial to US goals of turning over control of the country to Iraqis and begin drawing down the US force there next spring or summer.

But Pentagon officials have said they expect violence to spike as insurgents try to derail an October 15 referendum on the constitution and December elections for a new national assembly.

US casualties have risen sharply over the past two weeks as US forces have stepped up operations against insurgents along the Euphrates River to the Syrian border.

Despite the violence, General George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, has said he believes the United States will be able to make "fairly substantial reductions" in forces next year if progress continues on the political front and the development Iraqi security forces continues at its current pace.

- AFP