Report: Baghdad surge to be rapid influx; Iraq commits 3 new brigades of mostly Kurds

Above: Kurdish Army forces. The Kurds and Sunnis have a long-standing ethnic enmity, and each claim ownership of oil-rich Mosul. In 2004 Kurdish President Barzani offered to send 30,000 fighters to clean out Sunni Fallujah.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 — President Bush’s new Iraq strategy calls for a rapid influx of forces that could add as many as 20,000 American combat troops to Baghdad, supplemented with a jobs program costing as much as $1 billion intended to employ Iraqis in projects including painting schools and cleaning streets, according to American officials who are piecing together the last parts of the initiative.

The American officials said Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, formally agreed in a long teleconference on Thursday with Mr. Bush to match the American troop increase, made up of five combat brigades that would go in at a rate of roughly one a month, by sending three more Iraqi brigades to Baghdad over the next month and a half.

Nonetheless, even in outlining the plan, some American officials acknowledged deep skepticism about whether the new plan could succeed.

They said two-thirds of the promised Iraqi force would consist of Kurdish pesh merga units to be sent from northern Iraq, and they said some doubts remained about whether they would show up in Baghdad and were truly committed to quelling sectarian fighting.

Read the rest at the NY Times

Related Link:
Leading advocates say 'surge' must be prolonged

Related Link:
Maliki Announces New Security Plan

Related Link:
Sources: Iraqi-U.S. assault on Baghdad neighborhoods to start

Related Link:
Sunni clerics warn of coming Shi'ite militia attacks in Baghdad

Related Link:
Iraqis report coming U.S. push against Sadr's Mehdi Army

Related Link:
Report: Pentagon ready to go for 'surge' of up to 20,000

Related Link:
Report: Bush announcing surge Wednesday despite advisers 'deep differences'

Related Link:
Report: Bush to replace top commanders ahead of surge; Casey, Abizaid out, Petraeus, Fallon in

Related Link:
Media offers conflicting reports on size of 'surge'

Related Links:
Perspective: Officers Warn 'Surge' in Iraq Could Place Fatal Strain on U.S. Military

Related Link:
Report: Bush to announce surge, extended deployments

Related Link:
Sources: Bush to announce surge next week, call for sacrifice

Related Link:
3,300 ordered back to Mideast; 550 only home 2 weeks

Related Link:
Report: Gates 'wary' of troop surge

Related Link:
White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops

Related Link:
'Senior Administration Official': Surge may last 'year or longer'

Related Link:
Odierno takes the reins as No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq

Related Link:
Pentagon moving 3,500 more troops into Kuwait ahead of 'surge'

Related Link:
U.S. to deploy 4 new combat battalions

Related Link:
2,200 more reserve force Marines heading to Anbar

Related Link:
Pentagon: 57,000 troops to deploy early next year