AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Washington: The US military has deployed about 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to back up US and Iraqi forces trying to restore order in western Al Anbar province, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, ordered the deployment of two armored battalions from Kuwait, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Whitman said the extra troops were called in to back up ongoing efforts by US and Iraqi forces to establish rule of law in Anbar province and “reduce al-Qaeda's ability to influence in this key area.”
The deployment will effectively increase the US force levels in Iraq from 15 to 16 brigades, and was the latest sign of dimming prospects for a sizeable drawdown of US forces from Iraq this year.
It comes amid an intensifying struggle for control of al-Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, where al-Qaeda-led insurgents are believed responsible for a wave of assassinations of local leaders and attacks on US marines.
Brigadier General Carter Ham, a deputy director of operations of the Joint Staff, has called Ramadi “the most contentious city in Iraq” and said al-Qaeda in Iraq was trying to turn it into a safe haven.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad acknowledged in an interview with CNN last week that insurgents control parts of al-Anbar.
In a statement, the Multi-National Corps-Iraq said the troop move involves a two battalion task force from the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade based in Kuwait.
A third battalion from the brigade was deployed to the Baghdad area in March after a surge of sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra.
“This particular brigade only has three ground combat battalions,” said Whitman. He said other support units such as artillery and engineer battalions were not moving foward.
The brigade's combat battalions are typically equipped with M-1 Abrams battle tanks and armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
US troops levels in Iraq still stood at 130,000 despite the move, Whitman said. But he cautioned that movement of forces into and out of Iraq is “dynamic” and the total the number of troops could climb.
“We will let conditions on the ground determine the pace at which coalition forces are able to reduce their presence,” Whitman said.
He said those conditions are not confined to insurgent activity but also include “the development of the government, (and) the strength of the ministries as they start to stand up.”
Casey last year forecast “fairly substantial” reductions in US forces this year if Iraqi security forces continue to grow stronger and if political milestones were met.
The last of the milestones was met earlier this month with the seating of a permanent government led by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, but he has yet to fill the key posts of defense and interior ministers.
Casey has said he expects to make recommendations on force levels by the end of spring on June 21, and Whitman said he had no reason to believe he will not.
The Pentagon spokesman said the deployment of a brigade from the 1st Infantry Division from Germany was still on hold. It had been scheduled to move into Iraq in May.
In a statement, the US military described the latest deployments from Kuwait as temporary, just as it did when it sent in the other extra battalion in March.
“The situation in Al Anbar Province is currently a challenge but is not representative of the overall security situation in Iraq, which continues to improve as the Iraqi Security Forces increasingly take the lead,” said Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Martin-Hing, spokesperson for Multi-National Corps-Iraq.
The Pentagon was expected to make an upbeat report to Congress later in the day on the security situation, showing a steading increase in the size of the Iraqi security forces.
