Pentagon to increase forces in Iraq

With the continued deterioration of the security condition in Iraq, the US defense department, the Pentagon, is planning to increase its forces in Iraq during the coming months, contrary to expectations and the increased domestic pressure on the administration of the President George W. Bush to reduce the size of these forces.

According to Pentagon sources, the plan provides for increasing the forces in order to deal with the increase in the number of gunmen attacks, and to improve the security condition before the expected referendum on the permanent Iraqi constitution in October, and the general elections in December this year.

The spokesman for the Pentagon Lawrence De Rita expected the repetition of the scenario of past January when number of American soldiers increased to 160,000 before returning back to its current average of 138,000 soldiers.

This decision comes following the escalation of losses in the lines of the American forces in Iraq. The last attack on these forces in August 3 killed 18 soldiers. This decision coincides with the increased pressures, due to the effect of the war of Iraq on the US budget, as well as expansion of the scale of the military operations in Afghanistan.