This may be one of the reasons:
Rumsfeld extends tours of 3,500 US troops in Iraq 1 hour, 4 minutes ago, thursday, July 27, 2006
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon extended the tours of about 3,500 US troops in Iraq for 120 days in a move that dashed hopes of a reduction in the US force this year in the face of surging sectarian violence.
The Pentagon also identified four other brigades with 25,000 troops for deployment to Iraq late this year and early next, enough to maintain the US force at about 130,000 troops for a year.
"Additionally, the secretary of defense approved a request by the commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) to extend the deployment of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team operating in Iraq for up to 120 additional days," it said.
The move indicated that US commanders have effectively given up hopes for even a gradual reduction in the US force this year on account of a bitter insurgency and spiralling sectarian violence.
The Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade already had begun rotating out of Iraq when the order came to stay put.
Army officials said decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis on troops in a battalion that was in the process of redeploying.
"They're still trying to get as many soldiers as possible," said an army official. "It looks like it will be 3,500."
A Pentagon spokesman initially said about 4,000 troops were affected.
The Pentagon's policy is to keep troops in Iraqi for no more than 365 days at a time, but in the past commanders have kept some troops longer during crucial junctures such as during a Shiite uprising in 2004.
"If you extend somebody, is there some disappointment that they won't be home when they thought they would be home? Sure," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters. "But as I say this is a professional military, and they are doing a superb job."
He said when an army unit was extended for several months two years ago, "they handled it in a professional way, and got on with life."
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