WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is expected
to announce Wednesday night that he will send some 21,500 additional American
soldiers to Iraq, as part of his new Iraq plan, White House officials said
Wednesday.
Of the proposed additional troops, 4,000 would be deployed to the western
Anbar province, and 17,500 to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, to step up security
and held stem sectarian violence in the two areas. The first wave of troops
could arrive in five days.
As part of the plan, the Iraqi government would deploy additional troops in
Baghdad, with the first bridged to be put in place on Feb. 1.
There are currently about 132,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and more than
3,000 American military personnel have been killed in the war since it was
started in March 2003.
The president is also expected to admit it was a mistake that not enough
forces were sent to fight in Iraq in the past.
Bush would call for 5.6 billion U.S. dollars to fund the troop increase,
and an additional 1.2 billion dollars in new spending to finance rebuilding and
employment programs in Iraq, as an effort to discourage Iraqis from joining the
insurgency.
Democratic leaders in Congress have expressed opposition to the idea of
sending more troops to Iraq, and have planned to hold a series of hearings on
Iraq beginning this week.