Iraqis to Provide Security for Vote

U.S.-trained Iraqi police and military forces will handle most of the security duties during nationwide voting in October and December, so the American military is likely to send only a few thousand extra troops to Iraq for that mission, a senior U.S. commander said Friday.

Some officials had indicated recently that up to 20,000 extra U.S. troops might be needed during the voting.

Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the top ground commander for the coalition in Iraq, said he expected to need no more than 2,000 extra troops because there were thousands more Iraqi troops available than at the time of the January election.

The Pentagon says Iraq has about 180,000 security forces now, compared with about 130,000 in January.

The United States has about 140,900 troops in Iraq now, according to Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman. The number fluctuates by 1,000 or so daily because a large rotation of forces is underway.

“There will be very little overall change in the numbers,” Vines said, noting that an extra 1,500 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., have been tapped for temporary duty in Iraq.

“The number 140,000 is probably about right” for the election period, he said.

Vines spoke from Baghdad in a videoconference with reporters at the Pentagon.

U.S. officials have said they expect the insurgents in Iraq to escalate attacks in hopes of stopping an Oct. 15 national referendum on the draft constitution and the election of a new government in December.

It had been thought that if a large number of extra U.S. troops were needed in Iraq this fall the increase would be accomplished mainly by extending the tours of units nearing the completion of their one-year stints and possibly by bringing some units in earlier than originally scheduled. Vines, however, said there would be little of that. “There are a few units, very few units that we probably will have to adjust their time here in country by just a few days,” he said.