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Bush to order about 20,000 more troops to
Iraq
10.1.2007
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Bush to announce more US troops to Iraq in
anticipated speech
January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON,-- Unbowed by public doubts,
President George W. Bush plans to announce on
Wednesday that he will send about 20,000 more U.S.
troops to Iraq as part of a long-delayed shift in
strategy in the unpopular war.
Bush's plan may represent his last best chance to
salvage the U.S. mission in Iraq and turn around
frustration with his handling of the war.
Administration officials said Bush will announce
plans to deploy about 20,000 more U.S. troops to
join 140,000 already in Iraq -- most to Baghdad and
4,000 to volatile Anbar province. |
U.S. President George W. Bush
Photo: White House |
They said Bush will call for turning over security
of all Iraqi provinces by November, but they
cautioned that this did not represent a timetable
for a U.S. pullout. Iraqis currently control only
three of 18 provinces.
A defense official said Bush will announce an
increase in the training of Iraqi security forces
through a program in which U.S. trainers live and
work within an Iraqi unit.
The president has a tough sell ahead of him, after
nearly four years of war and scenes of carnage that
have undercut his argument that victory is possible
in Iraq.
Democrats in control of the U.S. Congress vowed
ahead of the 9 p.m. (0200 GMT on Thursday) address
in the White House library that they would fight
what they called an escalation of the conflict,
which has already claimed more than 3,000 American
lives.
Democratic leaders in both the Senate and the House
of Representatives, who planned to meet Bush on
Wednesday before his speech, said they would seek a
vote on his planned troop increase.
"In my view, we may be about to make a critical
mistake by moving in exactly the wrong direction in
Iraq. Instead of a surge we should be looking at a
way to begin orderly troop reduction," said West
Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd.
PUBLIC OPPOSITION
Many of Bush's own Republicans expressed unease and
a USA Today/Gallup poll said Americans oppose the
idea of increasing troop levels in Iraq by 61
percent to 36 percent.
"He does understand that it's important to bring the
public back to this war and restore public
confidence in support for the mission," said White
House spokesman Tony Snow.
Bush will couple his troop announcement with a new
call for Iraq's government to meet political
milestones aimed at ending sectarian violence, aides
said.
But he was not expected to give the Iraqis a
timetable for action. Aides said action on many
milestones is already under way, such as an
oil-revenue sharing plan, constitutional reform and
allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath
party to return to public life.
"We think a lot of those are going to happen
naturally and soon," said a senior administration
official.
Bush's troops plan follows personal commitments from
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to provide more
Iraqi troops in Baghdad and elsewhere and a promise
not to shield radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The first wave of U.S. troops are to go to Iraq over
the next few weeks.
CBS News said Bush intended to send half the new
deployment first, with the second half to be phased
in over March, April and May if the Iraqis get
serious about making Baghdad safer.
New York Republican Rep. Peter King told MSNBC after
meeting Bush on Tuesday that the Iraqi government
has to help improve security.
"And the president is going to make it clear to the
Iraqis that there will be consequences if they don't
live up to their end of it," King said.
Bush will announce he is sending Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East for talks with
regional leaders, urging them to help Iraq's
government.
His plan comes a month after the bipartisan Iraq
Study Group recommended direct talks with Iran and
Syria. Bush, who has rejected direct talks with
them, is expected to denounce Iran and Syria in his
speech as unhelpful influences in Iraq.
Reuters
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