A bigger ‘surge:’ 2,600 troops to join Iraq fight early

[babylonsister]

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=44370

A bigger ‘surge:’ 2,600 troops to join Iraq fight early


By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, March 17, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — About 2,600 soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade will deploy early as part of the Iraq “surge,” a senior defense official said Friday.

Based in Fort Stewart, Ga., the unit was originally supposed to deploy in June, but on Thursday Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved a request to send the unit downrange 45 days early, the official said.

The aviation brigade has a mix of helicopters including Black Hawks and Chinooks to support the five brigade combat teams expected to arrive by May in Iraq as part of the temporary troop increase, the official said. Right now, there are three combat aviation brigades in Iraq.

The soldiers in the brigade would come in addition to the roughly 2,200 military police and supporting elements that the U.S. commander in Iraq has requested for detainee operations, and the 2,400 support troops included in the “surge,” bringing the total troop increase to about 28,700, the official said.

Originally, the plan estimated adding about 21,500 troops to Iraq.

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[mediaman007]

1. This really begs the question...why the hell did they fire the generals

who told them that the original force was too small. They purged any general who wanted 200,000 - 300,000 troops on the ground! And how about that budget and management guy who told them that the war would cost 300 Billion. They fired him too!

It seems like we've let Bush*/Cheney off the hook for some really bad decisions. Those bad decisions have cost a lot of lives and money.

I think its time (4 years) to bring back some of the early decisions. The NeoCons should be haunted by their simplistic view of the World!