From the New York Times - Electronic Edition
WASHINGTON, May 8 - The Pentagon said Tuesday that it had informed an additional 35,000 soldiers that they were likely to be heading to Iraq by December, a move that would allow the Army to maintain heightened American troop levels into next year.
Overall American force levels in Iraq will reach close to 160,000 when all the additional units ordered to Iraq by President Bush arrive this summer. Only three of the five additional Army brigades ordered to Iraq are now in place, with the final two scheduled to arrive over the next two months.
The replacement troops announced Tuesday would go to Iraq under the new Pentagon policy of sending units for 15 months at a time, though Mr. Whitman added that shorter tours were also possible if security conditions improved.
The 10 brigades identified by the Pentagon on Tuesday for deployment are the Second Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Vilseck, Germany; the Fourth Brigade, Third Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga.; the First, Second and Third Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.; the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Hood, Tex.; the Second Brigade, First Armored Division, from Baumholder, Germany; the Fourth Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, from Fort Polk, La.; the Second Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and the First Brigade, Fourth Infantry Division, from Fort Hood, Tex.
