- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The
Pentagon will send thousands more Marines to Iraq in early 2004, bolstering
the next wave of U.S. troops being deployed amid an increasingly bloody
guerrilla war, defense officials said on Wednesday.
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- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld directed the Marine
Corps to send three additional battalions, along with assorted support
units, to Iraq as part of the troop rotation plan for early 2004, officials
said.
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- Defense officials portrayed the decision as a fine-tuning
of a previously announced troop rotation plan and not a reaction to the
difficult security situation.
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- Officials said the exact number of Marines involved had
not yet been determined. Officials said the Marines in the three battalions
would number roughly between 2,700 and 2,800, and the support units attached
to the battalions will push the total number of Marines involved even higher.
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- "The exact number, where they are going to come
from, the reserve-active duty mix, the timeline of deploying them -- all
of that is to be determined," said Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Douglas
Powell.
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- A standard U.S. infantry battalion generally numbers
about 900 troops.
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- Pentagon planners on Nov. 6 said the United States envisioned
105,000 troops in Iraq next May -- down from the current 130,000. The thousands
of additional Marines will add to the 105,000 figure, officials said.
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- "This is not 'the sky is falling'," said one
defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This is more
planning. This is a minor tweak in the plan."
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- The rotation plans call for a shrinking U.S. force in
Iraq in the first half of 2004, but officials also said the number of troops
actually deployed will depend on the security situation. President Bush
and Rumsfeld both have not ruled out an increase in U.S. troops in Iraq
if American commanders believe additional forces were needed.
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- Rumsfeld's decision also increases the role of the Marines,
who in the past generally were not used for postwar stabilization missions.
The rotation plan announced this month called for 21,000 Marines to take
over responsibility for security in a wide swathe of territory west of
Baghdad next year, replacing the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
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- Marines played a crucial role during the invasion launched
in March and later provided security in south-central Iraq before departing
in September.
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- The Pentagon envisions reducing the number of U.S. troops
in Iraq next year, but officials noted the number of Iraqis serving in
security posts was increasing. The Pentagon said 145,000 Iraqis were now
serving in police, border patrol and facility-protection forces.
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- The Pentagon also announced that Rumsfeld had alerted
about 7,900 more National Guard and Reserve troops for likely duty in Iraq,
while another approximately 1,440 reservists were given firm mobilization
orders for service in Iraq. Officials said these moves were anticipated
under the previously announced rotation plan.
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- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.
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