| The United States plans to increase its military force in Iraq in an effort to stabilize the country.
U.S. officials said nearly 20,000 troops would arrive in Iraq over the next few weeks. This would increase the U.S. force level to about 163,000 troops. Currently, about 145,000 U.S. soldiers are deployed in Iraq.
U.S. troops have disarmed a militia group affiliated with pro-American Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, as part of a campaign to impose law and order in Iraq, a political official said Sunday.
But fighters of the biggest Muslim Shi'ite group, trained by Washington's bitter foe Iran, reacted warily to the U.S. military's June 14 ultimatum for Iraqis to surrender their weapons.
Parts of Iraq were plunged into chaos after U.S.-led forces toppled president Saddam Hussein last month, and some Iraqis complain that crime has reached unprecedented levels.
Gen. Peter Pace, deputy chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the additional troops would come from the 1st Armored Division, Middle East Newsline reported.
The U.S. military dissolved the Free Iraq Forces (FIF) and disarmed its fighters, said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress.
The FIF, with fewer than 700 fighters and armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, had been working under U.S. command.
Pace said the arrival of the armored division would represent the peak force level of the U.S. military in Iraq.
"The number is being increased as we speak by about 18,000 with the arrival of the 1st Armored Division," Pace told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. "And then beyond that, there are no current projected deployments."
The United States has been joined by 20,000 British troops in Iraq. Washington has been discussing the contribution of other allies to the stabilization effort in Iraq.
Source: World Tribune | |
