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To: altair19 who wrote (27665)	7/16/2003 1:24:46 PM
From: abuelita	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 104216

altkey- this is the story that ran with the picture - sorry i neglected to add it earlier. theglobeandmail.com U.S. military stretched thin by Iraq Battle-weary troops ordered to stay on to defend against guerrilla attacks By TIMOTHY APPLEBY With a report from Reuters News Agency As rarely before, the reach of the mighty U.S. military machine is fast becoming stretched. U.S. forces occupying Iraq will go home as soon as a democratic government has been elected and a constitution enshrined, the top American official in Baghdad said yesterday. Yet at the same time, a Pentagon decision to keep thousands of battle-weary troops on the ground indefinitely has made the U.S. presence appear more open-ended than ever. Washington may find itself in a bind, military observers suggested, noting that more than half the U.S. Army's combat strength is now deployed in Iraq and that, as guerrilla attacks continue, more may be about to follow. "There's a grudging recognition that a degree of nation-building will have to accompany the military side of things," said David Rudd, president of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies. "But the United States has obligations in other parts of the world, notably Asia and the Balkans; its armed forces have been reduced significantly since 1991, and this [Iraq] will constrain its ability to undertake any other large-scale operation." Yesterday, in the volatile central town of Fallujah -- it is a flashpoint for Iraqi resistance -- members of the crack U.S. 3rd Infantry Division voiced dismay after learning that they will be staying in place until further notice, a reversal of plans to bring them home in July and August. "It's a big shock," one sergeant said. "We were told three times we would be going home," another soldier said. "It is not a good time to be announcing this." With 16,500 soldiers in Iraq, the 3rd Infantry has been in the region since last September. The division played a lead role in the April drive to the centre of Iraq and the assault on Baghdad, and has lost 37 of its men, more than any other U.S. army unit in Iraq. In Baghdad, U.S. civilian overseer Paul Bremer said that with the recent installation of the U.S.-appointed, 25-member Governing Council, the only major political steps remaining are the creation of a national assembly to draft a constitution, and the holding of national elections. "Then our job, the coalition's job, will be done," Mr. Bremer told reporters. "We have no desire to stay any longer than necessary." That could take at least a year, he says. Former war commander General Tommy Franks, however, told a congressional hearing last week that U.S. soldiers could still be in Iraq four years from now. Moreover, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has acknowledged that the 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq may have to be reinforced, since they have been targets of deadly assault as often as 12 times a day, and at least 32 U.S. soldiers have died in attacks since May 1. The U.S. forces are currently bolstered by about 13,000 other foreign soldiers, mostly British. Poland is to send 2,300 soldiers in a brigade that will also include units from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania. Ukraine, Spain, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Croatia have also signed on. Mr. Rudd of the CISS said U.S. military planners will have to think hard about any big new commitments. "I do not include Liberia," where Mr. Bush is contemplating a short-term U.S. troop presence of up to 2,000 soldiers, Mr. Rudd said. "But there can arguably be no more Iraqs or Afghanistans in the foreseeable future."