US to send fresh troops to Iraq as bombs wound four soldiers

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030928/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_worldwrap&cid=1514&ncid=1473

<snip>
Four US soldiers were meanwhile wounded in two separate bomb attacks, a military spokesman said.

Sergeant Mark Ingham said an attack with an "improvised explosive device" (IED) occurred about 11:00 am in the town of Iskandariya, 45 kilometers (nearly 30 miles) south of the capital. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Ingham said another two soldiers were wounded at Taji, 10 kilometers north of Baghdad, by an IED explosion at 9:45 am and were evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital for treatment.

After long insisting no more US soldiers were required to secure Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday that 10,000 troops were being mobilized in two national guard brigades for a force rotation and it put 5,000 more on standby as US calls for international troop contributions go unheeded.

more

[pippin]

1. Yes, but

Even as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made headlines this week by announcing that up to 20,000 fresh troops may be called to Iraq, President Bush and members of the congressional leadership were quietly abandoning a plan to protect troop-transport airliners from missile attack by terrorists or Saddam loyalists.

The measure, first advanced by the Pentagon, would have begun an ambitious program to equip the commercial airliners that are used for troop transport with advanced technology to protect them from the shoulder-fired missiles. Confused by disarray in the administration's plans to protect airliners from missile attack, the House of Representatives slashed the original $25 million request to $3 million. Congressional officials say the Bush administration did nothing to win approval of the full measure -- despite recent missile attacks on U.S. military craft flying near the Baghdad airport.

The outcome shocked many in the Defense Department and, critics said, it clearly could leave troops vulnerable. "I am appalled," said one Defense Department official who asked to remain anonymous. "We are setting ourselves up for a fall. We are paying lip-service to force protection and instead are digging a deeper hole in which to bury our head."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/09/27/missiles/index_np.html

[Gin]

2. The Guard and reservists will be on the Gov. payroll...I guess that means

adding on to the supplemental..

[10digits]

3. Has IED replaced WMD?

Who thinks this stuff up?