As the U. S. stands up
— President Bush’s speech may be scheduled for tonight, but the troop surge in Iraq is already under way.
ABC News has learned that the “surge” Bush is expected to announce in a prime time speech tonight has already begun. Ninety advance troops from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Baghdad Wednesday.
An additional battalion of roughly 800 troops from the same division are expected to arrive in Baghdad Thursday. Eighty percent of the sectarian violence occurs within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad, so that is where most of the additional troops will be concentrated.
the U. K. stands down:
Thousands of British troops will return home from Iraq by the end of May, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today.
Tony Blair will announce within the next fortnight that almost 3,000 troops are to be cut from the current total of 7,200, allowing the military to recover from four years of battle that have left it severely overstretched.
You no doubt noticed the absence of talk of coalition in last night’s speech.
Someone’s confused. My son is a medic attached to the 82nd…he’s been in Baghdad since April. With a lot of other guys from the 82nd. Sounds like they’re shuffling the deck.
Ed,
The 82nd doesn’t deploy as an entire division. Individual brigades (there are 4 I think) within the division deploy. You can get an overview of who’s in Iraq and the breakdown by going here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm