thedrifter
01-21-07, 11:28 AM
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
Fresh legs join drive to end violence
By STEVEN R. HURST
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- A newly arrived brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division, the first of the 21,500-troop buildup ordered by President Bush, will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the start of next month, the U.S. military said today.
The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne has 3,200 soldiers who will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said in a statement.
Four more brigades are expected to be deployed through May, mainly in Baghdad, as part of Bush's plan to back Iraqi forces in a third attempt in less than a year to clamp off the raging sectarian warfare that has shattered the Iraqi capital.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to put about an equal number of Iraqi troops on the streets and has vowed that they will target Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia fighters.
Al-Maliki has promised that he will no longer block action against the al-Mahdi Army, the armed wing of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, his ally. The militia is believed to be responsible for much of the bloodshed in Baghdad.
The Health Ministry said about 16,000 people in the city died in the violence last year.
Ellie
Fresh legs join drive to end violence
By STEVEN R. HURST
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- A newly arrived brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division, the first of the 21,500-troop buildup ordered by President Bush, will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the start of next month, the U.S. military said today.
The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne has 3,200 soldiers who will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said in a statement.
Four more brigades are expected to be deployed through May, mainly in Baghdad, as part of Bush's plan to back Iraqi forces in a third attempt in less than a year to clamp off the raging sectarian warfare that has shattered the Iraqi capital.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to put about an equal number of Iraqi troops on the streets and has vowed that they will target Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia fighters.
Al-Maliki has promised that he will no longer block action against the al-Mahdi Army, the armed wing of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, his ally. The militia is believed to be responsible for much of the bloodshed in Baghdad.
The Health Ministry said about 16,000 people in the city died in the violence last year.
Ellie