Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08

[SWJED]

9 May Washington Post - Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08 by Ann Scott Tyson.

The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year.

U.S. commanders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that heightened troop levels, announced by President Bush in January, will need to last into the spring of 2008. The military has said it would assess in September how well its counterinsurgency strategy, intended to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, is working...

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An interesting note on this article is August as the start date of the next round of OIF deployments. If the troops (or at least the HQ flags) get on the ground in SWA before 30 September (using FY 2007 funds), how does that impact on the FY08 Defense authorization and appropriation acts that Congress will have to vote on?