, US military leaders are drawing up plans to embed more military trainers with Iraqi forces, Pentagon officials said Nov. 16, in what is shaping up as a last-ditch push to get Iraqis to halt a slide toward civil war.
Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, outlined the plan to substantially expand the embedded military teams Nov. 15, calling it a major change in approach. Others said it was the current strategy intensified.
Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has asked planners to look at increasing the size of the so-called military transition teams from 11 to 25 advisers, an Army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A key unanswered question is whether adding to the 4,000 military advisers now assigned to Iraqi units will mean an increase in the overall size of the 144,000-strong U.S. force.
Abizaid said he has deployed about 2,000 additional marines to Iraq
