57,000 U.S. troops headed for Iraq in early 2007

[selil]

Interesting timing....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...ion=cnn_latest

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- About 57,000 U.S. troops will be sent to Iraq in early 2007 to maintain the current force levels there, Pentagon officials said Friday.

The Pentagon said the routine plan calls for 47,000 active-duty troops, plus 10,000 reserves, to rotate into Iraq early next year.

The force levels in the country have been fluctuating between roughly 140,000 and 150,000.

A Pentagon official identified the following units as ones that would be getting deployment orders:

# A headquarters unit from the 3rd Infantry Division;

# The 4th Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kansas;

# The 4th BCT of the 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Washington;

# The 3rd BCT of the 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Georgia;

# The 1st BCT of the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina;

# The 173rd BCT based in Vicenza, Italy.

In addition, 27,000 active support troops will be getting orders, along with 10,000 reserve support units.

[Culpeper]

Looks like it is to maintain current levels rather than an increase of such.

[SWJED]

Reuters - U.S. Sets Deployments to Maintain Iraq Troop Levels:

The Pentagon on Friday announced a major rotation of U.S. forces to replace existing units in Iraq, to help maintain current force levels as the troops try to stem deadly sectarian violence.

A year ago, U.S. commanders hoped to have substantially fewer soldiers in Iraq at this point, but they have opted to keep around 140,000 troops in the country due to what they have described as an unacceptably high level of violence...