WASHINGTON — President Bush will tell the nation Wednesday night that a gradual "surge of 20,000 U.S. troops" to Iraq will begin later this month, and that the administration expects the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to seize control of all 18 provinces by November, senior U.S. officials confirmed to FOX News.
Roughly half of the troop surge would be sent to Baghdad, which has been consumed by sectarian violence, while another 4,000 would head to the western Anbar Province, a base of the mostly Sunni insurgency and foreign Al Qaeda fighters, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and others said following a White House session with Bush.
Officials stressed, however, that the timing of the troop deployment ultimately is up to Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
It is widely expected that the first wave of the build-up will be comprised of the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division, which arrived in Kuwait earlier this week.
Will this be sufficient? I don't know. But I like the fact that we are not withdrawing. I am reading a book now titled "The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power", by Max Boot. It seems to have some ideas on winning, based on history. I'll post a review when I finish it.
Incidentally, I heard Dr. Laura today say that she is "proud mother of soon-to-be deployed American paratrooper". I wonder if her son is in the 82nd Airborne. This is one of the examples that should be putting the myth of only poor people fighting in wars to rest. Our thanks to Dr. Laura's son and to Dr. Laura herself for raising such a son.
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