US expects more violence::THE Pentagon plans to deploy two additional battalions to Iraq amid rising insurgent attacks

From correspondents in WashingtonAugust 24, 2005

THE Pentagon plans to deploy two additional battalions to Iraq amid rising insurgent attacks ahead of an anticipated referendum on a constitution, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.Mr Rumsfeld expressed confidence that public support for the war effort in Iraq will hold despite polls showing growing disenchantment in the United States.

"I think it'll have the support of the American people, and it will be sustained, and we will be successful," he said.
"And the alternative would be to turn that country and 25 million people over to terrorists and the kinds of people who have used chemicals on their own people and chemicals on their neighbours," he said. "That would be to turn to darkness."

An unfinished draft of the constitution was presented to the Iraqi parliament late yesterday, but deep differences remain between Sunnis and the Shiites and Kurds.

Mr Rumsfeld discounted concerns that Sunni rejection of the charter could leave US forces caught in the middle of a civil war.

It hasn't happened yet. It is not happening now," he said.

"And, obviously, it is something that one has to be attentive to and be concerned about. But I haven't seen anything to indicate that the risk is greater today than it was yesterday or the day before," he said.

His comments came on a day in which two more Americans, a soldier and a contractor, died. They were killed in a suicide bombing in Baquba that also claimed the lives of five Iraqis.

Around 60 US troops have been killed so far in August, making it one of the deadliest months of the war for the US military since it invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The US death toll now stands at 1868.

Mr Rumsfeld acknowledged that insurgents have stepped up attacks in anticipation of a planned October 15 referendum on the constitution, attributing the higher casualties to more lethal and sophisticated insurgent bomb attacks.

"We very likely will be announcing a temporary increase in forces in Iraq in anticipation of the October 15th. So at some point, we'll be notifying people and taking that forward," he said.

Asked how many troops could be involved, he said between 1000 and 2000 soldiers.

Admiral Edmund Giambastiana, the new vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would be two battalions.
Senior military officials said the battalions would amount to extra troops, brought in on top of the scheduled rotation of forces in Iraq.

Military officials also are looking at ways to adjust the rotation of forces to beef up the US troop presence on the ground for the elections from its current level of about 138,000 troops.

Some units already in Iraq could have their tours extended for a couple of months while units due to deploy to Iraq could be brought in earlier than scheduled.

Pentagon officials have said they expect the total number to rise to about the level they were at during Iraq's January 30 elections - some 159,000 troops.

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