Gen. Petraeus Seeks One More Brigade -- 2000-3000 More Men -- For Surge

Not yet a public appeal.

The appeal -- not yet made public -- by General David Petraeus for a combat aviation unit would involve between 2,500 and 3,000 more soldiers and dozens of transport helicopters and powerful gunships, said the Pentagon sources. That would bring the planned expansion of US forces to close to 30,000 troops.

News of the additional deployment comes about a week after President Bush announced that about 4,700 support troops will join the initial 21,500 he ordered in January. They are in addition to the estimated 130,000 troops already in Iraq.

"This is the next shoe to drop," said one senior Pentagon official closely involved in the war planning, who requested anonymity because of prohibitions against publicly discussing internal deliberations. "But you cannot put five combat brigades in there and not have more aviation guys, military police, and intelligence units."

How can Bush deny him? He seems to be having a fair amount of success, and Bush has furthermore made it his mantra that he gives generals the exact troop levels they request. Can he reverse that position now that a general is requesting more troops?

posted by Ace at 02:54 PM

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