09-09-2008, 03:21 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Okolona, Ky.
Posts: 11,360
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Fearless W sendin' in the Marines...
US to send 'mini-surge' to Afghanistan
September 09, 2008 - THE US is to ramp up US forces in Afghanistan in a "mini-surge" but withdraw troops more from Iraq.
Quote:
In a speech to be delivered later today, President George W. Bush will announce one Marine battalion in November and an army brigade in January, for an estimated total of 4500 more troops in Afghanistan. "In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. It will be followed in January by an army combat brigade,'' Mr Bush said in prepared remarks released by the White House.
He said he would bring home 8000 of the 144,000 US troops in Iraq over the coming months, with about half that number out by the time his term ends in January. "Here is the bottom line: While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight,'' he was to say. Mr Bush was to tie the limited withdrawal from Iraq to security gains from the "surge'' of roughly 30,000 US troops he ordered to Iraq in January 2007 in a high-stakes bid to wrest the war-torn country from the grips of sectarian violence.
Looking to the increase in violence in Afghanistan, Mr Bush was to say that he will seek to duplicate the success of the "surge'' by sending the Marine battalion and army combat brigade there. "As we learned in Iraq, the best way to restore the confidence of the people is to restore basic security - and that requires more troops,'' he said in the remarks, to be given eight weeks before the November 4 US election.
More US to send 'mini-surge' to Afghanistan | NEWS.com.au
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More Marines may be needed in terror war
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