U.S. moving 1,600 troops into Baghdad
Story Highlights
• U.S. to move three battalions from more peaceful areas
• Number of U.S. forces in Iraq won't increase
• Troops will be from Army units; Marines to stay in Anbar province
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military plans to move at least three more battalions of soldiers into Baghdad in an attempt to restore security in the Iraqi capital, a senior Pentagon official said.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/29/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_latest
POSTED: 10:58 p.m. EST, November 29, 2006
An Army official said about 1,600 troops will be involved. Some of the troops are already in the Baghdad area and will be moved into the city.
Other troops will be moved from areas where it is relatively more peaceful -- such as northern Iraq where there are Stryker battalions -- the Pentagon official said.
The highly mobile Stryker units are based around an eight-wheeled lightly armored vehicle named for two Medal of Honor recipients in World War II and Vietnam.
The Pentagon official said the troops will not include Marines based in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where there has been fighting along the Euphrates River corridor between troops and insurgents.
The troop shifts won't require an increase in total forces in the country, the official said.
As sectarian violence rages in parts of Iraq, securing Baghdad has been the top priority in the U.S. strategy to bring democracy to the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government hasn't been able to devise an effective strategy to stem the Sunni-Shiite violence that some observers say has plunged Iraq into civil war.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking Wednesday at meeting of business leaders in Dubai, said Iraq's violence meets the standard of a "civil war."
President Bush this week refused to debate whether Iraq was in a civil war. He called the latest violence "part of a pattern" of attacks by al Qaeda in Iraq to divide Shiites and Sunnis.
Bush was in Amman, Jordan, on Wednesday for a meeting with al-Maliki, but the talks were put off after public disclosure of U.S. doubts about his capacity to control sectarian warfare. The two are scheduled to meet Thursday, the White House said.
Al-Maliki's political standing weakened when allies of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a key Shiite supporter of al-Maliki's government, said Wednesday they were stopping their participation as Cabinet ministers and members of parliament.