US to send 128,000 replacement troops to Iraq next year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 07, 2003

US to send 128,000 replacement troops to Iraq next year

Some 128,000 US troops will be sent to Iraq next year to replace those already serving there for one year, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Thursday.

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Some 128,000 US troops will be sent to Iraq next year to replace those already serving there for one year, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Thursday.

The bulk of the US troops, both combat and supporting units, currently in Iraq "will be rotating out" in the first half in 2004,in the period from January to April, Rumsfeld told a news briefingat the Pentagon.

Some 85,000 combat troops, comprising active units and three Guard combat brigades, have been notified, with two of the Guard units alerted and mobilized over the past several weeks and the third to be mobilize on Nov. 15th, he said.

To support the combat units, the Department of Defense has begun alerting some 43,000 Guard and Reserve members that they maybe mobilized for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and about 3,700 Guard and Reserve forces who may be mobilized for service in Operation Enduring Freedom, he said.

There will be units with unique capabilities that will have to be remobilized or extended, and additional Guard and Reserve forces may be alerted in the future, said the defense secretary.

On the reduction of US forces in Iraq, Rumsfeld said the plan is to reduce the current four division and 17 brigades in Iraq to three divisions and 13 brigades next year if the security situation permits.

While the number of US forces may decline slightly, he said, the overall capability of the security forces in Iraq will increase, as the number of Iraqi forces, now standing at 118,000, continues to increase and other countries consider deployments.

Among the combat units to rotate in Iraq will be US Marines, which played a significant role in ousting former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war early this year and withdrew from the country in September, officials said.

Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that by May next year, the Pentagon expects to reduce the US troops in Iraq to 100,000 from the present 130,000, and hopes to have some 170,000 Iraqi security forces ready by that time, and two multinational divisions each numbering 12,000 soldiers.

The first Army unit to be replaced next year is the 101st Airborne Division, which the Army said in July would be replaced by a multinational division.

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