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Monday, September 10, 2007      New: Take a Stand

Troop surge to peak at 172,000 in mid-October

They WASHINGTON — The U.S. military surge in Iraq has reached a record high and is projected to continue over the next few months.

Officials said the U.S. military presence would further increase to 172,000 by mid-October amid the current troop surge designed to quell the insurgency in Iraq.

The Pentagon reported a record 168,000 troops in Iraq, an increase of 40,000 since January 2007, Middle East Newsline reported.

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"What you'll have is you'll have a temporary increase to about 172,000 at its peak, and then that will come back down to about 160[,000], 162,000 as that turnover finishes," Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

In a briefing on Sept. 6, Sherlock said the peak of 172,000 troops could extend into December 2007. He said the increase was the result of overlap amid the current troops rotations.

"That should last sometime till around the November-December timeframe as different brigades turn over," Sherlock said.

The highest previous troop level had been 160,000 in January 2005. During most of 2006, the U.S. troop presence ranged from 126,000 to 135,000.

The record troop levels were reported ahead of plans by the U.S. military to present a strategy for Iraq in 2008. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, was scheduled to relay his recommendations to Congress this week.

"Up front, my sense is that we have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas in Iraq," Petraeus wrote in a message to U.S. service members on Sept. 7. "The result has been progress in the security arena, although it has, as you know, been uneven."

The increase in the U.S. military presence came as the British Army was expected to reduce its 5,500-member force in southern Iraq. The British have withdrawn from the city of Basra and was expected to leave the province in November 2007.

"They're still working with the 10th Iraqi Army Division," Sherlock said. "They're still working with the security forces throughout the province and throughout MND-Southeast. So they haven't ceded ground. And again we have to take a look at what occurs as we transfer that responsibility to the Iraqi security forces."

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