Pentagon to Extend Iraq Combat Tours (new)

[Tellurian]

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - About 21,000 American soldiers in Iraq (news - web sites) who were to return this month to their home bases in Louisiana and Germany will have their tours extended at least three months to help combat the surge in anti-occupation violence, defense officials said Wednesday.

The decision, which has not been announced publicly, breaks the Army's promise to soldiers and their families that assignments in Iraq would be limited to 12 months. The affected soldiers already have been in Iraq for a year.

In addition, about 1,000 soldiers in transportation units based in Kuwait will be extended beyond one year, a senior defense official said. Most of them are in the National Guard or Reserve. They are deemed critical to re-supplying the troops based in Iraq.

Welcome-home ceremonies at Fort Polk, La., scheduled for this month, have been canceled. In Baumholder, Germany, some soldiers' families have stopped marking the days off the calendar.

The top U.S. commander for the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, decided that the increase in violence was so threatening that he needed to have the extra firepower, officials say.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was fine-tuning the new plan Wednesday; his spokesmen declined to discuss details. They said it was possible that Rumsfeld would make it public on Thursday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20040414/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_military

...another coup!

[pinto]

1. CNN reporting extension to last at least 3 more months...

then replacements.