US to Troops: Don't Come Home Yet

The US is having many of their troops now staying on extentions to their year long deployments while now also adding 12,000 more troops to the regoin to beef up the total number to 150,000 troops.

This on the heels of the deadliest month for US troops since the invasion.

Pentagon Beefing Up Forces in Iraq Ahead of Election

Fresh Troops to Be Deployed Temporarily; Some Units' Tours Extended

By Charles Aldinger, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Dec. 1) -- The U.S. military will temporarily boost its troop strength in Iraq to about 150,000 from a current level of 138,000 to provide extra security for Iraqi elections set for Jan. 30, defense officials said on Wednesday.

The increase will be achieved by keeping thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq for short-term extensions of current yearlong deployments even after their replacements arrive this month and in early January for a previously scheduled rotation, according to the officials, who asked not to be named.

The boost will also include a temporary deployment to Iraq of about 1,500 elite 82nd Airborne Division soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, officials said.

''There will be some short-term deployments of additional troops to help with security,'' said one the defense officials. ''This will all boost our military presence to about 150,000 over the short term.''

The military sent 1,100 82nd Airborne soldiers to Afghanistan in September to boost security for the presidential election there. Polling took place in Afghanistan on Oct. 9 with little violence.

A defense official said some Army soldiers whose scheduled departures out of Iraq are being postponed in order to increase the overall troop levels will serve somewhat longer than the one-year duty in Iraq that Pentagon leaders had promised them.

The Pentagon also temporarily raised the U.S. military presence in Iraq by about 20,000 troops last spring to provide security for the handover of sovereignty to Iraq. It then delayed the scheduled departure of some troops by three months and hastening the arrival of others.

Senior military officers scheduled a Pentagon briefing on the increased presence in Iraq later on Wednesday.

Gen. John Abizaid, who as head of Central Command is the top U.S. commander in the region, had said more troops would be needed to safeguard the election but that would be achieved primarily through more U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces. The Pentagon has acknowledged previous broad problems in training and equipping Iraqi security forces.

12/01/04 13:31 EST