Pentagon Struggling To Find More Cannon Fodder

[RestoreGore]

Who is left to attack in Iraq? Haven't they killed everyone already? This occupation has gone on longer than WORLD WAR TWO. Nevermind trying to force him to "wind down the war", do the one thing that he CAN'T VETO... IMPEACH HIM! I am SO sick of reading this came crap day after day after day after day......... WHEN is there an end? IS THERE NOW AN END? COULD THERE BE AN END? They already lied concerning this "surge" as they will send even more than that and they don't give a damn about what we think or about the men and women they send over there. It's time to end this war by ENDING THIS ADMINISTRATION... Because unless they are impeached, I will only see Democrats as condoning the continuation of this empire grab for political points. We have run out of excuses.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070310/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_troops

Pentagon struggles to find fresh troops
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.
Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops. The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled. Final decisions — which have not yet been made — would come as Congress is considering ways to force President Bush to wind down the war, despite his vow that he would veto such legislation.

In the freshest indication of the relentless demands for troops in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of coalition forces in the north, told reporters Friday that his troops have picked up the pace of their attacks on the enemy in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.
"Could I use more forces? No question about it," Mixon said, adding that he had asked for more. The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said a day earlier that it was likely that additional U.S. forces will be shifted to areas outside the capital where militants are regrouping, including Diyala. The region has become an increasingly important staging ground for militant groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq.

"There have been about 30 percent more offensive actions and attacks. Many of those are initiated by us; some are initiated by them," Petraeus said from a military base outside of Tikrit. "I am cautiously optimistic that in the next 30 to 60 days that we're going to see some significant differences in the security situation in Diyala."

If not, he said, he'll go back and ask for still more support.

Petraeus said Thursday that the U.S. buildup in Iraq would need to be sustained "for some time well beyond the summer" to garner the needed results.

snip

Initially, the Bush plan called for sending 21,500 extra U.S. combat troops to Iraq — mainly to Baghdad — with the last of five brigades arriving by June. So far two of the brigades have arrived in Iraq. The latest estimates indicate that up 7,000 support troops may also be needed, including more than 2,000 military police.

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Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report

[RestoreGore]

1. And to explain...

I'm not calling the troops cannon fodder, that is my interpretation of what the Pentagon thinks of them.