US to send 1500 more troops to Iraq

[dancingme]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming votes, the military announced Wednesday.

Two infantry battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq before the scheduled Oct. 15 referendum on the proposed constitution, and remain through the December national elections, officials said.

They will join the 138,000 U.S. troops already there. The battalions are expected to remain in Iraq for 120 days.

The military anticipates an increase in violence in Iraq in advance of the elections, with insurgents opposed to the U.S.-backed government trying to disrupt the process.

The Pentagon has temporarily increased the size of the force in Iraq twice before political milestones — the June 2004 transfer of sovereignty and the January elections. Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said those deployments helped limit the effectiveness of the insurgent campaign.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9067227/

[mattclearing]

1. Lovely.n/t

[maxsolomon]

2. should be 150,000 more

or 138,000 less.

[Jacobin]

5. oh, please, pretty please let's not support sending 150,000 more

troops.

LBJ and Nixon sent 550,000 to 'get the job done right'.....it didn't work then....it won't work now.

this is a failed policy. Let's please not have the dems supporting an even larger fuck up.

[maxsolomon]

6. oh, allright

i WAS going to use my vast influence to get * to double the # of troops, but you've convinced me! <wink!>

[shraby]

3. The lady at the bank told me

they're sending the Manitowoc co. Wisconsin National Guard to Iraq.

[SteppingRazor]

4. God's mercy on the poor bastards...

This isn't gonna get any better anytime soon.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. With bodybags? Poor sods. Cannon fodder for the politicians.

Who will shed crododile tears for them, call them heroes, and build a spiffy monument so the next generation of suckers can protect our "vital interests" aka ($$$$$).