The Pentagon ordered airborne reinforcements into Iraq on Wednesday to bolster its forces during the general election due in January, marking the end of Washington’s hope that other countries would supply the extra soldiers.
Defence officials said two battalions of the 82nd Airborne (about 1 200 troopers) would be flown from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Iraq in the next few weeks. The orders say they may be in Iraq for up to 120 days.
Two army brigades in northern Iraq would have their stay extended for at least two months, raising the strength of US forces in Iraq from 138 000 to 150 000 in January.
The 82nd is a rapid-deployment unit, its troops are ready to fly anywhere in the world at 18 hours’ notice. This year it helped provide security for the Afghan elections.
Anglo-US forces have been trying to crush resistance in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad, particularly in the insurgent strongholds of Falluja and Ramadi, where voter registration has yet to begin.
The US central commander, General John Abizaid, had admitted that more troops would be needed during the elections, but he hoped that they would be provided by other countries or drawn from the growing Iraqi army.
”We certainly won’t ever rule out the possibility of increasing our own troops if the military situation requires it,” he said in September.
”But it’s my expectation that it’ll be primarily force levels at their current strength along with additional Iraqi troops that will set the stage for successful elections.”
He expressed concern this week that Ukraine might withdraw its 1 400-strong contingent from the coalition because of the post-election protests at home. But he said the US military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan should not lead Iran into thinking it could exploit the tense situation in the region. ”We can generate more military power per square inch than anybody else on earth, and everybody knows it.”
With the elections less than two months away, Iraq’s two powerful Kurdish parties put on a show of unity on Wednesday, announcing a joint slate and vowing to fight to protect Kurdish self-rule in a future political settlement.
At a meeting in Salaheddin, north of the regional capital Irbil, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, respectively leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, put aside their long-held rivalries to field a single candidate list for the transitional assembly.
”We, as Kurds, will submit one unified independent list for elections in Iraq,” Barzani said. ”Since the Shias have their own list to contest the general elections, the Kurds also will have their own list.”
The parties run rival administrations in the west and east of the self-rule area established in 1991. Barzani said the list would include Christian, Turkomen, communist and moderate Islamist candidates. – Guardian Unlimited Â