.Pentagon to delay departure of brigade from Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military, seeking to maintain its current elevated troop levels in Iraq, will delay the departure of roughly 3,500 soldiers serving in the volatile Ramadi area, defense officials said on Monday.
The soldiers are from a brigade of the Army's 1st Armored Division, based in Germany, that was due to have left Iraq in January, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced.
They will be kept over "less than two months" past their scheduled departure date and are now set to serve roughly 13 months, longer than the U.S. policy of 12-month tours of duty in Iraq for Army soldiers, one official said.
The soldiers are serving in one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq, heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
By extending a unit scheduled to leave Iraq, the Army can maintain or bolster troop levels without having to send in reinforcements from outside the country, but such action often provokes anger and disappointment among soldiers and families.
Some military experts have said maintaining troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan has stretched the Army virtually to the breaking point, with many soldiers serving two or three tours of duty and equipment wearing out at alarming rates.
This marks the second time in two months that the military has opted to extend a brigade in Iraq beyond its planned departure date in order to deal with unabated violence in Iraq 3 1/2 years into the war.
The United States, in a bid to stem a rise in sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in Baghdad and elsewhere, has increased its troop count in the past two months, and now has 142,000 troops in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
Pentagon policy is for Army units to serve 12-month tours in Iraq and Marine Corps units to serve seven-month tours. Troops who serve past those limits receive extra pay.
At key times in the war -- for example, during Iraqi elections in 2005 and the return of sovereignty in 2004 -- the Pentagon has delayed the departure of troops to beef up the American presence temporarily.
Army Gen. John Abizaid, who as head of U.S. Central Command oversees the war, said last week the United States is likely to maintain current levels of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. President George W. Bush has acknowledged that he had hoped to begin reducing U.S. troop levels by now but was thwarted by the persistent violence in Iraq.
The 1st Armored Division brigade involved in the latest move received much more advance notice than the last Army brigade held over in Iraq.
The Pentagon on July 27 ordered an Alaska-based brigade to stay up to four months past its scheduled departure, but did not make the decision until after the unit had begun leaving. In fact, about 300 soldiers had reached their home base in Alaska before being sent back for duty in Baghdad.
Reuters
The soldiers are from a brigade of the Army's 1st Armored Division, based in Germany, that was due to have left Iraq in January, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced.
They will be kept over "less than two months" past their scheduled departure date and are now set to serve roughly 13 months, longer than the U.S. policy of 12-month tours of duty in Iraq for Army soldiers, one official said.
The soldiers are serving in one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq, heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
By extending a unit scheduled to leave Iraq, the Army can maintain or bolster troop levels without having to send in reinforcements from outside the country, but such action often provokes anger and disappointment among soldiers and families.
Some military experts have said maintaining troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan has stretched the Army virtually to the breaking point, with many soldiers serving two or three tours of duty and equipment wearing out at alarming rates.
This marks the second time in two months that the military has opted to extend a brigade in Iraq beyond its planned departure date in order to deal with unabated violence in Iraq 3 1/2 years into the war.
The United States, in a bid to stem a rise in sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in Baghdad and elsewhere, has increased its troop count in the past two months, and now has 142,000 troops in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
Pentagon policy is for Army units to serve 12-month tours in Iraq and Marine Corps units to serve seven-month tours. Troops who serve past those limits receive extra pay.
At key times in the war -- for example, during Iraqi elections in 2005 and the return of sovereignty in 2004 -- the Pentagon has delayed the departure of troops to beef up the American presence temporarily.
Army Gen. John Abizaid, who as head of U.S. Central Command oversees the war, said last week the United States is likely to maintain current levels of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring. President George W. Bush has acknowledged that he had hoped to begin reducing U.S. troop levels by now but was thwarted by the persistent violence in Iraq.
The 1st Armored Division brigade involved in the latest move received much more advance notice than the last Army brigade held over in Iraq.
The Pentagon on July 27 ordered an Alaska-based brigade to stay up to four months past its scheduled departure, but did not make the decision until after the unit had begun leaving. In fact, about 300 soldiers had reached their home base in Alaska before being sent back for duty in Baghdad.
Reuters
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